There are some writers, like Alvin Toffler and John Naisbitt, who can be described as great and “different”, because they have the ability and insight to see what others do not see and in their scientific way they can extrapolate what they have learned from different sources.

Today, there is a writer who does not receive enough attention and who only seems to be followed in elite circles, but whose name will inevitably be at the forefront of writers influential in the fields of technology, energy, climate and economics.

The writer I refer to is Vaclav Smil, a Canadian of Czech descent, who has written over 40 very important books on topics, such as “energy and civilization”. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Manitoba in Canada, and is the favorite writer of the American businessman Bill Gates. In 2010, Smil was chosen by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world’s top 100 thinkers.

His most recent publication, published by MIT University, is “Growth,” which deals with the notion of growth, such as national growth, population growth, urban growth, cancer cell growth, child growth, etc. Various questions arise with regard to people’s obsession with the notion of “growth”, which is historically linked to the growth of civilizations, cultures and empires, and Vaclav Smil challenges the traditional method of measuring growth, suggesting more effective methods of natural resource management and more responsible economic formation.

The book is unconventional in its vision, and it offers the dialectical view that growth and obsession have had catastrophic effects on humanity. The constant pursuit of the development of animal resources, such as cows, sheep and chickens, and the concern to increase their growth and weight has put pressure on water and food grains resources. Growth is a natural matter to be pursued by man, but there should not be a feverish pursuit to double growth without moral limits.

The author concludes his idea with a shocking suggestion that in order to ensure the survival of a stable life on the planet, the idea of ​​the priority of growth must be abandoned.

Different ideas, no matter how shocking or surprising, are what stir stagnant water and lead to thinking and ultimately to change and development. Vaclav Smil is one of the few “different” writers who have the ability to think far and wide.