Abstract
The Catholic philosopher Ivan Illich is the foremost heterodox voice in energy studies. This chapter explores his idea that modern energy services only liberate us up to a certain point. After that threshold, we become shackled with more needs as energy slaves become our masters. The chapter relates this insight to psychological research on shifting baseline syndrome and the hedonic treadmill, as well as empirical social studies of energy that show happiness reaches a saturation point beyond which more energy brings, at best, diminishing marginal returns. A concluding section considers the relationships between energy and equity.
[N]eeds are much more cruel than tyrants
Ivan Illich (1992)
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Briggle, A. (2021). Invention Is the Mother of Necessity. In: Thinking Through Climate Change. Palgrave Studies in the Future of Humanity and its Successors. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53587-2_14
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