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The system is not sustainable,
for three reasons:

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First: all the tecnological
promises go with the assumption

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that we keep increasing our
consumtion of ressources.

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Metallic, non re-newable 
and more and more rare ressources.

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We are rapidly consuming 
the periodic table,

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the chemical elements.

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We are moving away from
a circular economy.

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Because the products 
that we consume

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contain more and more electronics,

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more and more 
assembled materials

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that are difficult 
to recycle.

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We have over 20 metals, of which 
globally only 1% is recycled.

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That means we are not reaching 
the much talked about circular economy.

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The second reason is
the systemic or global effect

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that means:

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There are tecnologies that
solve a specific problem

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typically things 
like electric cars.

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But in doing so they produce 
even bigger problems

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because of ressource depletion 
or other ecological impacts.

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If we know for example,
that autonomous cars

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produce 4000 Gigabytes 
of data every day,

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if they drive for 1 1/2 hours.

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We would have to multiply todays 
global internet traffic times 1000

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to have one billion autonomous cars.

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The ecological impacts 
of global digitalisation

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are very important already at present,
and this is not sustainable.

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The third aspect that 
I think is problematic

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about the dream of a 
high tech society

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that does have 
planetary boundaries

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is the problem of the
rebound effect:

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The whole history of 
technology shows,

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that every time there is some progress
in terms of efficiency

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be it vehicles, objects,
or services,

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that consumed less 
energy and resources,

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ressources were not saved, 
in fact the consumption grew!

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E.g. the aviation, where better engines 
allowed for cheap flights,

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or with car sharing, wich just 
let to more travelling.

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Or in the case of 
digitalization, where

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consumption doubles 
every 18 or 24 months.

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We do not earn the fruits 
of technological progress.

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On the contrary: we 
continue on a road

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that is exponentially  
divergent.

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At what scale are 
we not sustainable:

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ON a global scale there is 
this imperfect indicator

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of the "ecological footprint",

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when it's about the planet.

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In western states, 
like western Europe,

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3 to 4 times too much 
energy is consumed

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and perhaps 10 times 
too much ressources

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for us to be able 
to say it's sustainable.