Nonstop Acceleration

Abstract

Through the ages, time has been considered a gift from God - though it has always had to be used in an economical way. In the modern era, time came to be seen increasingly as the resource par excellence, and the equation `time is money' was established. During the industrial revolution, this approach led to an enormous leap in growth and acceleration, brought about by the large-scale exploitation of carbon deposits accumulated over millions of years. Thus the conditions were created which enabled humans both to ignore the rhythms of nature and to attain the `perpetual motion' and `rest-lessness' of the nonstop society. Still, this `theft of time' cannot be carried on endlessly since, in spite of technological progress, it undermines the conditions of possibility for future economic activity and is therefore not `rational' in the long term, even from an economic point of view.