Rocking the Google Bus

By Justin Ritchie, originally published by The Extraenvironmentalist

November 18, 2016

NOTE: Images in this archived article have been removed.

Image Removed

Companies like Twitter can make billions of dollars in revenue while providing a widely used service and still be considered a financial failure. Though today’s digital technologies provide new innovations that reorganize daily life, can the digital economy expand forever? Will our most promising tech ever reach its potential in an economy pushing for growth at all costs?

In Extraenvironmentalist #94 we first speak with Douglas Rushkoff about his new book, Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the Enemy of Prosperity. Douglas discusses drivers of recent tech businesses and how relentless financial incentives are undermining their possible value to society. Then we speak with Jennifer Hinton about the possibility of a not-for-profit model for business and technology described in her forthcoming book How On Earth: Flourishing in a Not-For-Profit World by 2050.

Justin Ritchie

Justin is in Vancouver, BC where he reads books, researches energy, carbon and financial systems at the University of British Columbia Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability while occasionally walking in the forest.

Tags: digital technologies, limits to growth, not-for-profit enterprises

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