Or not. We've been using the energy stored up in the Earth over eons as if it's infinite, and now realised it's not. We've gone from Ader and Weisskopf to multi

Or not. We've been using the energy stored up in the Earth over eons as if it's infinite, and now realised it's not. We've gone from Ader and Weisskopf to multiple nations having space programmes off the back of a dependency on fossil fuels. Those fuels are running out, and we have to stop using them in any case before we kill the planet. To my view the C19-20th has been a unique period of growth. We're going to need to be much more resource and energy conservative until {and even when} we develop new technologies (fusion? some sort of zero-point energy harvesting??). It seems renewables might be able to satisfy our current energy demands, as long as we don't do something like thinking we can continue along the curve we've been going on, particular wrt population growth, but also wrt our expectation of a bottomless pit of all elements. Our next revolution needs to be extreme longevity of goods/tools/appliances and full reuse/recycling. IMO that's incompatible with Capitalism, we need producers who are invested in _not_ selling more products than are needed and investors who want to achieve goals beyond extracting liquifiable value from our societal systems. Even going back to feudalism I fear we've fostered into power the sorts of people who will never choose the trajectories we need but will always go for personal wealth. It might already be too late to correct that.