The Economic Superorganism: Beyond the Competing Narratives on Energy, Growth, and Policy 1st ed. 2021 Edition

"For every narrative, there is an equal and opposite counter-narrative."There are many topics that get cut into two tidy groups. This book looks at two: energy and economy. Where should our energy come from? Oil, or windmills? Drill here, or import? On the economy: what past trends will continue, and which are apt to end? What does an economic model actually do? Can we really invent and extract our way to success, thru some perpetual economic growth? Or can we really go fully renewable without stifling cost or impact on 'way of life'? And who is and will be actually making these decisions?Of course, the real world isn't cut into tidy groups - there's overlap, contradictions, ignored causes and effects. But, big decisions still need to be made. Big decisions ARE being made. Part 1 has a bunch of data on what has happened and how people made decisions, and how that influences the only two ways people talk about energy / economics today (hug a tree or drill a well). Part 2 gets you thinking about systems, meme's and evolution of ideas, while reminding us everything within a finite world is itself finite. And it reminds us that the world is a far more complex than it appears - and it appears really complex! Jevon's Paradox (starting page 227) is a mind-blowing example of a simple idea that could not seem more backwards and contradictory, yet is almost undeniably true. A superorganism obeying nothing but physical laws and the maximum power principal emerges as a 'middle way' explanation in topics dominated by polarization, nostalgia or wishful thinking, dispelling In Part 3, Chapter 9 comes knocking, and begins knocking down more narratives: that with enough motivation, confidence, or political will, our futures will be secured. That capitalism is sure to save us, or if not then financial engineering will. Both social reality and physical reality bump into us and prevent tidy, simple answers.This book is a brief history on energy and economics, a macro-economic primer, philosophical study of free will, meme evolution and political frameworks. It's filled with data, charts, explanations but leaves many conclusions and interpretations to the reader. I'll get you thinking about a LOT more than energy and economics - with enough footnotes and references to dig deeper...

Cary King's book The Economic Superorganism is an additional manner of looking the present economic situation in our world and the need to better focus on the role of in the role of energy on the effect of today society. As we may be in a transition from hydrocarbon/coal to renewable energy as the major source of energy in the future society, this book is a wonderful source for information for the interested reader. Cary King's book is worth reading because it makes on try tom make one think about where we have been and where we are going as a society. One will enjoy his writing style, the great use of grafts to illustrate the concepts presented in his book and often great illustration used to help make a complex subject easier to understand. Cary King deserve our thanks for adding a better way of understanding our present day economic component of society, John Asbury, Texas

Carey King’s Economic Superorganism is an amazing tour de force. Though it is 400+ pages, Carey has condensed insights that took me years to learn.I especially recommend Chapter 6, Macromodel on the Wall, How Does Growth Occur, After All? In this chapter Carey addresses the shortcomings of neoclassical economics and standard integrated assessment models (IAMs) – both of which falsely ignore the impact of energy on the economy – and shows how and why to integrate energy and other finite natural resources into economics.Overall King has done an exceptional job of pulling together the strands of data and information from the energy and economics worlds and, as very few people have done, showing how they connect together.His book goes further than just about anything I have read in synthesizing all this information and drawing some conclusions about how the economy really works and, knowing that, how we might undertake the difficult process of moving forward from here.

A profound book. Shocking in its implications and shocking in the degree to which we do not understand what our economy. The superorganism within which we are but small actors has a macro behavior more akin to a biological entity than a human invented or directed entity.

In the Economic Superorganism Prof. Carey King does an excellent job of breaking down and describing the split in the world's energy and climate dialogue, and how this divide might be bridged one day. As he puts it, techno-optimistic thinking assumes unending consumption through infinite human ingenuity overcoming any future resource constraints, while a techno-realistic viewpoint sees inevitable constraints on consumption and growth. King highlights the strong points of both arguments, noting that "we can't assume zero technological changes, but we can't assume infinite capability either" while arguing persuasively for focused study of the human economy that takes more fully into consideration the natural context in which humanity arose. Doing so, he explains, may help us to not only accept or anticipate an end to growth, but to actually plan for it.

The author has presented a lot of data, and analysis in almost a meditative style of writing, which provokes thinking and a real desire to understand and question our approach to economics and decision as human beings participating in the economy.Here are three keywords/phrases that summarize the book for you:Thought-provoking; economics with physical constraints; illuminating.