[adwn]

> [...] because the global economy has shifted from one of physical resources to knowledge based

...except for that tiny detail where we're still critically dependent on raw materials that can only be economically extracted in certain parts of the world.

Maybe mathematicians only need a blackboard and some chalk to do their work, but the remaining "knowledge based" economy needs computers, of which many parts are produced in a country [1] which is claimed by another country [2] that's been growing increasingly aggressive in recent years.

[1] Taiwan.

[2] China.

[XorNot]

You can't plausibly wage a destructive war to seize industrial facilities likely to be disrupted or destroyed in said war. Factories and their workers are intellectual resources.

Whereas with raw materials, like rare earths: China has a lock on rare earth's because they're willing to completely destroy their own land's to get them, not because they're actually "rare".

We are arguably in a local minima with regards to rare earth extraction because nothing has pushed us to automate the human element out of it and they're not needed in sufficient quantity yet.

[barry-cotter]

except for that tiny detail where we're still critically dependent on raw materials that can only be economically extracted in certain parts of the world.

That’s a contingent, not a necessary fact. The Haber-Bosch process was invented to provide nitrogen for German armaments faced with the same kinds of difficulties. If you really need something the fact that it just got ten times more expensive matters very little.

[bigmattystyles]

And to boot, mathematicians tend to prefer Japanese chalk, so even that...

[taneq]

Yeah, but they CAN do their work with a pencil, or even a crayon. That particular brand of Japanese chalk just happens to be nice.