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Mind Sized World Models

Author

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  • Ugo Bardi

    (Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Firenze. C/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Polo Scientifico di Sesto Fiorentino, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi), Italy)

Abstract

One of the factors that led to the wide rejection of the 1972 “Limits to Growth” report was the inability for most people to understand the model used in the study. In the present paper, the author builds simple “mind sized” world models designed to convey to readers the main qualitative features of world modeling. These models turn out to provide results comparable to real-world historical cases and are similar to those generated by the more complex “World3” model used for the “Limits to Growth” study.

Suggested Citation

  • Ugo Bardi, 2013. "Mind Sized World Models," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:3:p:896-911:d:23936
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Graham M Turner, 2008. "A Comparison of the Limits to Growth with Thirty Years of Reality," Socio-Economics and the Environment in Discussion (SEED) Working Paper Series 2008-09, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.
    2. Bardi, Ugo & Lavacchi, Alessandro & Yaxley, Leigh, 2011. "Modelling EROEI and net energy in the exploitation of non renewable resources," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 223(1), pages 54-58.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ugo Bardi & Sara Falsini & Ilaria Perissi, 2019. "Toward a General Theory of Societal Collapse: A Biophysical Examination of Tainter’s Model of the Diminishing Returns of Complexity," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 1-9, March.
    2. Ilaria Perissi & Alessandro Lavacchi & Ugo Bardi, 2021. "The Role of Energy Return on Energy Invested (EROEI) in Complex Adaptive Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Ugo Bardi & Virginia Pierini & Alessandro Lavacchi & Christophe Mangeant, 2014. "Peak Waste? The Other Side of the Industrial Cycle," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(7), pages 1-14, June.
    4. Lukáš Režný & Vladimír Bureš, 2019. "Energy Transition Scenarios and Their Economic Impacts in the Extended Neoclassical Model of Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(13), pages 1-25, July.
    5. Nick King & Aled Jones, 2021. "An Analysis of the Potential for the Formation of ‘Nodes of Persisting Complexity’," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-32, July.
    6. Roberto Pasqualino & Aled W. Jones & Irene Monasterolo & Alexander Phillips, 2015. "Understanding Global Systems Today—A Calibration of the World3-03 Model between 1995 and 2012," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-26, July.

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