New economy

[Spongebob]

We don't need to crack any energy source to make that happen.  The process -is- an energy source, itself.  The trouble we have is not capitalism - but that we've erected barriers and gates to doing even that.  So much so that you think it's optimistic.  That's not a free market, but a controlled and limited market.

Food for thought.

Ok, I see where you are coming from.  Actually, that's my real question here.  What could we do, what is possible, to transform our growth-dependent prosperity to something different, where growth is not required, but people can still find prosperity.  Right now, the only true prosperity engine that current humans understand is one in which some genius invents "great new something" and builds factories, hires workers and shippers.  Genius gets super rich, workers and shippers find some level of prosperity until "great new something" runs its course and withers.  Then we await the next genius.  Repeat cycle ad nauseum.  Of course it's not a singular invention but scores of them in a complex web, but still our prosperity is currently in the death grip of the innovation cycle.  And we can observe this throughout history.  Innovation used to take centuries, millennia even, during which time prosperity was stagnant.  Since the enlightenment we've enjoyed innovation and prosperity on a scale humans have never seen before.  But that isn't a given for future generations.

If we figure out a way to digitize ourselves in my own lifetime, I'll pass.  I have no interest in being the avatars I play - that would eliminate the point of the avatars in the first place.  I'm extremely attached to being a biological entity in real space.   I'll smile and wave as you all go off into the digital ether (and then pull the cord once you're well away to make room).

That's why that won't be an option.