USGS has information on consumption and production and lifecycle of materials. That report suggests enough Indium for “several decades.” Not sure what the source of discrepancy is. Perhaps the shorter timelines are due to extrapolations of expectations in increased consumption whereas the US numbers are based on current consumption? Just a guess.

Here is that graphic.

http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2605/26051202.jpg

The concept of diminishing returns seems to the be gist of the entire article. I’m puzzled by this argument. If anything we’ve had exponentially increasing returns for an hour labor. She says, “The extra food produced by each extra hour of labour — or joule of energy invested per farmed hectare — diminishes as that investment mounts.”

Is it really denied that our economy is far more energy (specifically oil) efficient than it was during the 70s? Do you really think that each extra hour of labor is worth less today than it was in the 50s? We’ve been living in an age of skyrocketing productivity, not diminishing returns.

The worry about increasing connectivity is laughable. Since we began congregating in cities in ancient Iraq, we’ve been increasing connectivity. Everytime there is a need to purchase something that you yourself didn’t produce from scratch you’re living in a world of connections. As our economies have grown and we’ve prospered the level of connectivity has increased a million fold, but again, I ask why now?

Is our current age of interconnectivity much different than the explosion of connections during the industrial revolution? Why are we special here in the 21st century to warrant civilization ending collapse?

We’ve been integrating at various levels throughout human history. Originally it was low level integrations such as buying a pair of assembled shoes from a skilled craftsman down the street in a village. Then we bought watches from a highly specialized worker from a large shop all the way across the city. We then started to buy imported animal furs from across our country. Then there was a need for minerals brought all of the way across the continent. How is it any different or worse today to buy some cotton from Brazil, ship it to Indonesia on a ship built in Denmark, assemble a shirt with machines designed in Seoul but built in Taiwan and fly it to Denver on a plane designed in Seattle and built in over 20 countries?

It’s the brilliance of humans, of capitalism. And friend, it’s our entire essence as humanity. It’s our history and our future, to a degree unimaginable today.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19426051.200

http://tinyurl.com/5nlqad

And I’m not just being hysterical here.