Efficiency

Poul Anderson, The Stars Are Also Fire, 7, p. 93.

There is a lowered demand for raw materials because:

population has declined;
there is efficient recycling;
goods are made to last;
there are few or no design changes;
dynamism has gone.

The first four reasons seem good to me. We do not need an ever-increasing population, waste, built-in obsolescence or new models of cars. But why should dynamism decline? Creativity should be liberated when mankind is freed from want. Anderson suggests elsewhere that what makes a difference is:

"...people: their institutions, attitudes, ways of going about things. What else could it be?"
-Poul Anderson, "The Discovery of the Past" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 182-206 AT p. 195.

What else? We need to regard new technology as a challenge, not as a threat to dynamism. Through blogging, I not only share appreciation of Poul Anderson but also - appreciate Anderson more!