Interviewed here. He comes across as the opposite of George Gilder, in that he is very much a materialist.

we consume so many more products that there’s been no absolute dematerialization of anything. We still consume more steel, more aluminum, more glass, and so on. As long as we’re on this endless material cycle, this merry-go-round, well, technical innovation cannot keep pace.

Pointer from Tyler Cowen.

I once got to hike with Smil during a break in a conference put together by John Baden. That was a treat.