Students of microbiology become acquainted very early in their courses with the growth curve of microorganisms, that graphic representation of how a population behaves in a flask culture.
After a period of slow growth rate the population increases exponentially during a time, then its growth rate slows and finally growth stops. In a closed system, unrestricted growth is limited in time. Continuous growth can only take place in a chemostat in which a constant supply of nutrients and removal of products is possible.
Up to now, unrestricted growth has been the idea underpinning the economy of modern industrial societies. For a time these societies operated in a system reminiscent of a chemostat; they had a supply of new resources and possibilities to export their products. Now, dwindling of material resources and globalization have changed the situation to one more similar to that of a closed system: resources are not infinite, and the possibilities to export products have been greatly diminished. Although unrestricted growth is not possible, discourses about national economies continue to be based on it. Perhaps economists could learn something from a modest graph like the growth curve of microorganisms.
Carlos Gancedo
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas "Alberto Sols"
CSIC-UAM
28029 Madrid, Spain
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