Economists, Ecologists, and the Clash of Futures in the 1970s Limits to Growth Debates — with Sören Altstaedt

Join us on March 18th for an engaging Friends of the Future seminar with Sören Altstaedt to revisit with him the heated controversies that erupted following the publication of the Limits to Growth report in 1972. Commissioned by the Club of Rome and crafted by a group of MIT scientists, the report documented the results of the first computer simulation of human interaction with the global environment. Using a novel modeling technique called System Dynamics, the MIT scientists projected that if exponential growth of global population and industries continued unchecked, the world system would face socio-ecological collapse in the 21^stcentury. This seminar is free and open to all. We do ask you to register here: https://forms.uu.nl/universiteitutrecht-geo/friendsofthefuture-soren-altstaedt

The Limits to Growth debates have often been painted as clash between two ideological camps; pessimistic neo-Malthusians versus optimistic techno-utopians. However, previously unexplored archival material from MIT reveals a deeper, decade-long methodological struggle between MIT’s System Dynamics Group and econometricians over the validity of their respective modeling practices. This earlier scientific conflict shaped the battle lines of the 1970s debates: assuming the popular position of “economists”, critics of the report largely favored econometric modeling, while its defenders, often identifying as “ecologists”, resonated with System Dynamics’ holistic approach. Thus, the Limits to Growth controversies pertained not only to the normative question of what the future will look like but also, to a significant degree, to the epistemological and methodological question of how to imagine it – how to give it form through specific models. Our current perceptions of what the future actually is, what actions to take, and what goals to seek has been forged in this clash of futures that marked the 1970s.

About Sören Altstaedt

Sören Altstaedt is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. His research revolves around the social dimensions of climate change, sustainability and energy transitions. His particular take on these issues is informed by the sociology of knowledge and cultural sociology. His dissertation revisited the Limits to Growth from the perspective of the history and sociology of the future. During his doctorate he was a visiting researcher at the Program in Science, Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as well as at Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée, Sciences Po Paris

About 'Friends of the Future'

The Friends of the Future seminars are the Urban Futures Studio’s take on public seminars: warm, interactive, and focused on hope. Each month, we invite an academic, activist, artist, or practitioner to chat with us on the sofa in front of a circle of colleagues and guests. All are welcome.