BA 415
25 January 2018
Are Natural Resources “Finite”
In his writings, Simon seems, at first, to have no idea of what he is talking about until he
gets down into the details. He believes that you cannot deem a natural resource as “finite”
because of the actual definition of the word “finite.” He claims that in order for something to be
considered finite, according to its definition, there must be an appropriate method to make count
of that resource. There is no way to tell how much of a natural resource there is; Simon gave the
example of it being like trying to guess how many beans are in a jar without knowing how big
the jar is. Since there is no way to tell how much of a natural resource there is in the world, one
cannot deem that resource as “finite”.
In addition to natural resources not being “finite,” Simon says that we do not have to
worry about the scarcity of these natural resources or the sustainability of them. His reasoning
for this seems to be rooted in the idea of the technological project. Simon says that we do not
have to worry about the scarcity because it brings about innovation. He talks about how, as