Maybe a bit offtopic, but could you elaborate on why you think infinite growth in a finite world is possible?<p>You addressed labor cost, but it is only (the easiest) one amongst several variables. You have effectively changed Porter&#x27;s claim into: &quot;... exponential growth can go on forever in an ever expanding world...&quot; where your only concern is how to make economy grow faster than population.<p>Look at your China example. If the root cause of the one-child-policy were a hard biological fact of the human species - i.e. like if women would become sterile after their first successful pregnancy - instead of, well... policy, how would the Chinese government would respondo to the &quot;expensive retirement-age cohort where people are living longer&quot;? Follow the West model and invest in automation whenever feasible? Extend retirement age to 80+? Try to produce a genetically engineered a race of labourers with enhanced chances of having twin (or higher) pregnancies? Gun down the elderly, weak or disabled, and turn them into soylent green? The posibilities are many, but none come without hard tradeoffs and costs, and the ethical dilemas are head spinning.