this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2025
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Degrowth

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Discussions about degrowth and all sorts of related topics. This includes UBI, economic democracy, the economics of green technologies, enviromental legislation and many more intressting economic topics.

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[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago

That's a good thing. We all should do that.

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 19 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] Enkers@sh.itjust.works 15 points 4 months ago

Me too, Japan, me too.

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 months ago

Sounds awesome. We should all do more of this (if the privilege exists).

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

This is a natural reaction to having constrained resources and being informed about one's choices.

If people had enough money to feel comfortable, and lived in a world that wasn't dying, they would want to participate in society and the economy more.

[–] Dogyote@slrpnk.net 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Zhao is careful to distinguish between people who choose to want less and those who fail to act on their desires out of despair.

Are they really different? I could start in despair and then tell myself that's what I want. I think I do that with many things I don't have, basically turn my envy or desire into contempt for those who have those things.

[–] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Getting to vs having to. Makes a big difference. Soldiers have to force march with a ruck; we get to hike the Appalachian Trail. One is an adventure and the others sucks.

Being happy with less or growing to accept less is different from wanting more and being unable.

[–] Dogyote@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 months ago

Growing to accept less seems like capitulation to an unfair, unjust, and unstainable system... but then why would I want to participate in that anyway? This is confusing

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Very interesting, inspiring even.

Not long ago I saw a factoid to the effect that Japan had attained a kind of equilibrium where population contraction was making economic growth unnecessary (after all: less people for same economic output, so the virtual effect is expansion). It's a striking idea, it would be interesting to hear more about it.