Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper summary

History is filled with examples of the genius of the human mind. Anywhere you look, people have found ways to improve their lives, along with the lives of others. These improvements have taken the shape of innovations that have been used to make things better, faster and more accessible to everybody.

Consider the invention of the printing press, which allowed books to be produced much more quickly and cheaply than ever before. Thanks to this innovation, common people suddenly gained access to a huge range of information. Before this, of course, the multitude of people who couldn’t afford books simply had to rely on word-of-mouth information from those that could.

So, when it comes to climate change, most would agree that the rate at which we’re burning fossil fuels is far too high. But what can be done about this? Some people mistakenly suggest a strategy of de-growth. These people think that we should stop innovating and instead revert to our pretechnological, environmentally-friendly roots.

This idea of de-growth is glamorized by a great number of political and opinion leaders around the world – from the founder of Greenpeace, Rex Weyler, to Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein. These public figures believe that the best thing for humans to do is go back to small-scale, community living. This would entail giving up access to imported products from around the world, and replacing them with local goods while reducing energy consumption.

Humans are always looking for ways to improve the speed at which things function. Just like Olympic sprinters, we constantly seek to push our limits and go faster. It’s not clear why this is, but it’s likely down to the fact that we all know that we have a limited amount of time on earth.

We can see our innate need for speed at work in our desires to build faster cars and planes – not to mention spacecraft! This desire can even explain the invention of the wheel, which enabled us to move objects, and ourselves, much more quickly.

Chances are, you’ve heard people spouting the idea that green energy is good, while all fossil fuels are bad. This stance is usually expressed by people with an agenda, specifically those who are seeking financial support for their new ways to produce clean, green energy from sources like wind, solar or water.

The idea of “green energy” has become very popular in recent times. Renowned public figures, such as Al Gore, and large organizations, such as Greenpeace, all claim that wind, water and solar energy are the only way forward in terms of providing energy for the future.

So what about fossil fuels, then? These days, lots of people are of the opinion that fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal are the energy sources of the past. But this is simply not true! If anything, fossil fuels are the energy sources of the future, as they are the only sources that can sustain our current way of life.

For technological innovation to occur as it should, we are going to need more and more energy. This is also true for the world’s increasing population: the more people there are, the more energy we need to provide to them.