Jason Hickel – Less is More

An economic model structured to make profits rather than meet human needs engineered the collapse of the biosphere. Reversing this model is totally achievable—not for having less, but more.

Capitalism is the first expansionist economic system in history. Contrary to its own myth, it did not emerge naturally and is far from being the expression of human freedom.

“GDP growth is, ultimately, an indicator of the welfare of capitalism. That we have all come to see it as a proxy for the welfare of humans represents an extraordinary ideological coup.” (Jason Hickel)

“We can choose to keep shooting up the curve of exponential growth, bringing us ever closer to irreversible tipping points in ecological collapse, and hope that technology will save us. But if for some reason it doesn’t work, then we’re in trouble.” (Jason Hickel)

Can growth be equated to progress? Data show that it is not GDP growth by itself that improves people’s lives but how money is distributed, notably through investing in public infrastructures.

Organized around exchange-value, not use-value, the capitalist system is over-productive and steadily worsening a multi-faceted ecological crisis. Is a post-growth, post-capitalist world conceivable?

Natural sciences regularly provide new data showing that the world exists as an interconnected system. This lays the ground for a post-capitalist ethic, reflected in the long-ignored wisdom of indigenous people.