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debt. If the capacity for assuming debt is limitless, money does not become a scarce
commodity and consequently the conventional economy as originally understood:
“oikonomos”, meaning “household management” or “the management of scarcity” has
been lost in translation. Therefore, any units of measure used for a true evaluation
of scarcity should be physically rooted, so that they cannot be altered in response
to either inflation or a monetary revaluation.
Thus for reasons relating to survival, Thermodynamics should play a core role
in the economics of the future, with the latter heeding to the laws of the former by
managing and depicting wealth appropriately. This would be in sharp contrast to
the current way of describing it, solely in terms of activities that generate monetary
capital, even if they prove damaging to the planet.
15.4.1.2 The substitution issue
The second difference between Economics and Thermodynamics relates to the vari-
ety of resources that exist coupled with the issue of substitution. The substitution
of materials, unlike that of energy or even money is limited and case specific. This
is because whilst the quality (but not quantity or continuity) of an energy supply
is independent of its source, given that any type can be used to create heat and/or
work, chemical elements (with some radioactive exceptions) cannot be transformed
into another neighbouring element of the periodic table. Likewise, the thermody-
namic quality of a given material depends on its constituent elements and atomic
structure. Thus, when one looks to substitute one material for another it is impor-
tant to maintain the macroscopic properties, even if the exact composition should
change. Consequently, the potential for substituting one member of the periodic
table with another can range from viable to impossible, with a sea of uncertainty
in between. Any replacement will be a matter of some gains at the expense of some
losses with the final decision governed by price. Furthermore, whilst energy can be
derived from various sources only to be converted into one, exergy, materials come
from a multitude of sources and can be transformed into a myriad of products with
an infinite number of combinations which in turn produce an infinite number of dif-
ferent properties. Today mankind uses almost all the elements of the periodic table
in ever-increasing amounts and complex compositions. Some of these may create
an absence (phosphorus) or excess (carbon dioxide) in the natural environment,
leading to unforeseen and potentially devastating consequences. The problem of
shortage of materials is alas not a one-dimensional problem.
Consequently, it becomes extremely important to manage the planet's provision
of mineral resources appropriately. As explained in Sec. 9.3, every time one chooses
to mix a substance, oxidise or even disperse it, entropy is produced. And, the greater
the entropy, the greater the quantity and quality required to bring a substance back
to its original state and/or initial conditions. This degradation, accelerated by Man
is of geologic magnitude and nothing, not even the sun can hope to undo it. Firstly,
the repository effects of meteorisation, as produced by the sun upon the Earth's
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