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JoshuaZ comments on Open Thread, September 1-15, 2012 - Less Wrong
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Note, though, that we are talking about much smaller population - so you could spend quite a lot of land per capita on growing both ethanol source and fuel.
Current size of humankind is clearly unsustainable in this mode, of course.
With a much smaller population you start losing all sorts of other advantages, especially economies of scale and comparative advantage.
Careful. Economies of scale for quantity million parts don't show up until probably the 20th century. Prior to that, the effect of reduced population size might just be reduced variety. Do you have any idea how many manufacturers of engine lathes there were at the end of the 19th century, for instance? (Hint: more than a couple.)