a book

More from Less

Name: More from Less
Rating: 5 (7 reviews)
Author: Andrew McAfee
ISBN: 9781982103576

Andrew McAfee · 2019 · 337 pages

From the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Second Machine Age, a compelling argument—masterfully researched and brilliantly articulated—that we have at last learned how to increase human prosperity while treading more lightly on our planet.

Throughout history, the only way for humanity to grow was by degrading the Earth: chopping down forests, fouling the air and water, and endlessly digging out resources. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the reigning argument has been that taking better care of the planet means radically changing course: reducing our consumption, tightening our belts, learning to share and reuse, restraining growth. Is that argument correct?

Absolutely not. In More from Less, McAfee argues that to solve our ecological problems we don’t need to make radical changes. Instead, we need to do more of what we’re already doing: growing technologically sophisticated market-based economies around the world.

How can he possibly make this claim? Because of the evidence. America—a large, high-tech country that accounts for about 25% of the global economy—is now generally using less of most resources year after year, even as its economy and population continue to grow. What’s more, the US is polluting the air and water less, emitting fewer greenhouse gases, and replenishing endangered animal populations. And, as McAfee shows, America is not alone. Other countries are also transforming themselves in fundamental ways.

What has made this turnabout possible? One thing, primarily: the collaboration between technology and capitalism, although good governance and public awareness have also been critical. McAfee does warn of issues that haven’t been solved, like global warming, overfishing, and communities left behind as capitalism and tech progress race forward. But overall, More from Less is a revelatory, paradigm-shifting account of how we’ve stumbled into an unexpectedly better balance with nature—one that holds out the promise of more abundant and greener centuries ahead.

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recommended by 7 people

sourced from public statements

Andrej Karpathy
“A fairly unconvincing, high level, pop-econ take on dematerialization in the economy. The first 7 chapters lay out the context: Malthusian condition, the Industrial Revolution, Earth Day, etc. Chapter 5,6,7 form the core of the book where we are treated to some pretty sketchy diagrams with everything improving up and to the right while our physical consumption of raw resources reverses. Very little is said about a number of obvious objections, eg the ongoing globalization and its effects. After Ch7 the book transitions into talking about capitalism and why it's the best thing since sliced bread. Did you know that in 1950 we got 117B pounds of milk from 22M cows, but in 2015 we got 209B pounds of milk from just 9M cows? Truly something wonderful to celebrate. For anyone interested in the topic I'd recommend wikipedia and journal articles, e.g. I found the following to be much better "bang for the buck": - https://mk0eeborgicuypctuf7e.kinstacd... - https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/112...”
Eric Topol
“My top 10 books for 2019 A Kleinman, @AlbertoCairo, @amcafee, @stevenstrogatz, @JanelleCShane, @AngelaDSaini, @ruha9, S Russell, @GaryMarcus, @MelMitchell1 (yes, lots of #AI, of course) Reading Bryson's The Body" now.... [Oh, right, one called #DeepMedicine was pretty good ;-)]”↗
Chris Anderson
“Something important happened around 1980 to break the energy dependence trend of the economy. Digitization = dematerialization From @amcafee's fascinating new book”↗
Mike Shellenberger
“Tech has outpaced increases in population & consumption, so that today humankind faces the prospects of reducing the total amount of our usage of natural resources, including land, as @amcafee shows in his brilliant new book:”↗
Brett Gurewitz
“Wishing everyone peace, love, capitalism, technological progress, public awareness, and responsive government, this holiday season. God Bless you. All is one. Fuck Trump. Here's a good book: #morefromless”↗
Marc Andreessen
Adam Grant