There's a "Talk at Google" about this. I think it's Douglas Rushkoff (1), who wrote Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus. Basicly, if you rethink the economy in ter

There's a "Talk at Google" about this. I think it's Douglas Rushkoff (1), who wrote Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus. Basicly, if you rethink the economy in terms of a global garden, where you're spatially bounded, you just have to accept that there's only so much carbon, silicon, water, etc. Paul Romer (Nobel Economics 2018, 2) has a similar point (again trying to recall a lecture here...): if you take all the copper in the world, you can only make so many circuits. So tech can only get you so far. There's some kind of upper bound on "just make more motors". Progress may well occur, but it will take innovations not yet foreseen. (1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EnmH95016w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EnmH95016w (2) https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2018/romer/lecture/ https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2018/rom...