Growth

No-growth implies a zero-sum society -- no one can do better without making someone else worse. But that doesn't stop people from trying, it only leads to such an intensification of conflict that the only stable equilibrium is a formally stratified society, as in overt class or caste divisions, in which everyone has their "place" and is required to keep to their place.

It's interesting to note how many fantasy, and even science-based (though these are mostly what are called "space operas"), fictions make use of just such feudal backgrounds. Part of that may be a result of the fact that historically/culturally dynamic societies are difficult to portray convincingly. And part, no doubt, reflects a nostalgia for a culture in which one's place is defined for one, which one can then either accept or rebel against, either way being simpler and less anxiety-ridden than having to continually define one's own place.

What's lost, however, is an integral component of one of the greatest breakthroughs in the human story -- namely, the idea of equality of status, embodied as one of the self-evident truths in the American Declaration of Independence. That idea directly confronted and opposed the assumptions of virtually every other culture of any complexity in history, and the consequent equality of human rights and freedoms it conferred, has been accompanied by an enormous, and in fact astonishing, growth in material well-being everywhere. It's hard these days to see this in its real historical context, so much do we take such plenty for granted -- but a short video, such as this one by Hans Rosling (which only deals with relatively recent history) helps break down that complacency. The point is that material wealth means more than just multiple brands of toasters or deodorants -- it provides unprecedented opportunity for individuals to realize their visions, and the diversity of effort that generates more growth.

For this reason, the theme of limitless economic growth is at the foundation of the topic or idea being sought here. Those espousing the contrary theme of the "limits to growth" argue that, for example, "technological advance" can be separated from economic growth, and that such would still allow for the possibility of a positive-sum growth in individual welfare. But, first, such advance is already included in the notion of growth as used here, and second, the policy-driven limits on economic growth such arguments seek to impose tend to have a negative impact on the freedom of individual initiative that is an essential ingredient to growth of any sort. It's true as well that that there are other forms of growth than the material, such as moral, aesthetic, cultural, and so on, but human thriving of any sort has its basis in the physical, natural, material universe -- without material growth, all other forms of growth wither.