There are plenty of towns and villages where people can live in the economic conditions of the 1800s or 1900s. Almost no one chooses to do so. Economic growth

There are plenty of towns and villages where people can live in the economic conditions of the 1800s or 1900s. Almost no one chooses to do so. Economic growth is overall strongly correlated with human prosperity, higher life-expectancies, and higher standard of living. If we ever do run low on a natural resource, capitalism softens the blow by gradually increasing prices, thereby increasing incentives for finding an alternative.