Simplicity and Sustainability: Pointers from Ethics and Science

Mehrdad Massoudi and Ashwin Vaidya
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Mehrdad Massoudi: Center for Nonlinear Analysis, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890, USA
Ashwin Vaidya: Department of Mathematical Sciences, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: In this paper, we explore the notion of simplicity. We use definitions of simplicity proposed by philosophers, scientists, and economists. In an age when the rapidly growing human population faces an equally rapidly declining energy/material resources, there is an urgent need to consider various notions of simplicity, collective and individual, which we believe to be a sensible path to restore our planet to a reasonable state of health. Following the logic of mathematicians and physicists, we suggest that simplicity can be related to sustainability. Our efforts must therefore not be spent so much in pursuit of growth but in achieving a sustainable life.

Keywords: sustainability; simplicity; ethics; entropy; mathematical modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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