The Physics of Capitalism

Abstract

People tend to think of capitalism in economic terms. Karl Marx argued that capitalism is a political and economic system that transforms the productivity of human labor into large profits and returns for those who own the means of production.1 Its proponents contend that capitalism is an economic system that promotes free markets and individual liberty.2 And opponents and advocates alike most often measure capitalism's impact in terms of wealth and income, wages and prices, and supply and demand.However, human economies are complex biophysical systems that interact with the wider natural world, and none can be fully examined apart from their underlying material conditions. By exploring some fundamental concepts in physics, we can develop a better understanding of how all economic systems work, including the ways that the energyintensive activities of capitalism are changing humanity and the planet. This article will explain how the fundamental features of both our natural and economic existence depend on the principles of thermodynamics, which studies the relationships between quantities such as energy, work, and heat.3 A firm grasp of how capitalism works at a physical level can help us understand why our next economic system should be more ecological, prioritizing long-run stability and compatibility with the global ecosphere that sustains humanity.Such an understanding requires a glance at some central concepts in physics. These include energy, entropy, dissipation, and the various rules of nature that bind them together. The central features of our natural existence, as living organisms and as human beings, emerge from the collective interactions described by these core physical realities. Although these concepts can be difficult to define without reference to specific models and theories, their general features can be outlined and analyzed to reveal the powerful intersection between physics and economics.The exchange of energy between different systems has a decisive influence on the order, phase, and stability of physical matter. Energy can be defined as any conserved physical property that can produce motion, such as work or heat, when exchanged among different systems. 4 Kinetic energy and potential energy are two of the most important forms of energy storage. The sum of these two quantities is known as mechanical Erald Kolasi received his PhD in physics from George Mason University in 2016.archive.monthlyreview.org

Food that Matters: Boundary Work and the Case for Vegan Food Practices

“…2019). Moreover, the high thermodynamic efficiency (see Kolasi 2018; Hirth 2019a) of low‐livestock or stockfree operations is an opportunity to degrow animal agriculture and, thereby, provide sufficient amounts of quality food while freeing up land available for biodiversity protection or restoration, rather than just producing ever more food.…”

“…With the FAO’s (2006) report ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’ at the latest, meat consumption has an increasingly bad reputation for its ecological footprint, but rarely are the ‘biophysical variables’ (Carolan and Stuart 2016) and reasons for it made explicit, let alone the logical conclusion that stockfree systems have, in turn, a short shadow. For exceptions, see Hirth (2019a) juxtaposing so‐called ‘plant‐based’ food with the even greater base of plants an animal metabolism requires for feed conversion as well as Kolasi’s more general account of thermodynamic energy (in)efficiencies leading the physicist to suggest an ‘ecologism’ which involves ‘the adoption of mass veganism among industrialized nations that no longer rely on animals for food production’ (2018). The collective need to address the materialities by which diets cast longer or shorter ‘shadows’, however, is overshadowed by a dogmatic and fiercely‐led debate obsessed with the internal authenticity of individuals’ dietary identities.…”

Paragons of sustainability: transforming luxury markets through value-in-impact. Insights from an Ecuadorian artisan chocolate case study

“…To offset their cost, these expensive community-supporting practices are communicated in To’ak’s marketing campaigns and constitute the core credence attributes of their products. Paying producers a premium thus serves two purposes in terms of social sustainability: it renders visible and makes salient the environmentally harmful, engrained capitalist efficiencies of existing market mechanisms, often lamented by ecological economists (Kolasi, 2021); and it casts a halo on consumers who consciously accept and appreciate the luxury premium (Chernev and Blair, 2015). …”

“…(1) it renders visible and makes salient the environmentally harmful, engrained capitalist efficiencies of existing market mechanisms, often lamented by ecological economists (Kolasi, 2021); and (2) it casts a halo on consumers who consciously accept and appreciate the luxury premium (Chernev and Blair, 2015).…”

“…Among other aspects, ecological economists criticize mainstream economics for extolling the descriptions of fleeting financial features of capitalism as universal natural laws and for disregarding the carrying capacity of natural ecosystems in favor of the artificial construct of infinite economic growth (Kolasi, 2021). A possible future environmental collapse would ultimately have the consequence of profound reduction in humanity’s ability to produce value because human well-being is intrinsically linked to natural ecosystems (Carter and Moir, 2012; Costanza et al , 2014).…”