Extrapolating previous trends of energy consumption. Historically, technological advances have greatly increased the energy consumption per human. At an accel

Extrapolating previous trends of energy consumption. Historically, technological advances have greatly increased the energy consumption per human. At an accelerating pace (exponential energy consumption growth). According to Geoffrey West's "Scale", humans biological needs are about 90 watts at rest, 250 watts for an extremely active lifestyle. The average American uses about 11,000 watts, 2 orders of magnitude more, and more than a blue whale. It is possible we will invent new ways to tap energy, but exponential growth will have to end somehow. (Unless you meant to imply that our technological progress could hasten the heat death of the universe, in which case I fully agree.) Note - I do not mean this will happen any time soon, just that there is a theoretical upper bound to innovation: how much energy exists in the universe.