What solution are we grasping for? If we want a society of equality then we require as a first priority easily available energy to fuel the processes of self-realization, the provision of abundant food, and the provision of leisure through the incorporation of mechanical and electronic servants. We were/are on that track with our ravenous use of fossil fuels, massive extraction of earth elements, the incorporation of growth beyond the restraints of a closed biosphere, etc.

Everyone everywhere pretty much wants the ideal of equality in some definition that has been prioritized by existing culture. But we cannot sustain that quest with fossil fuels, population overshoot, and destruction of our biosphere.

So, here we are facing the hard limit of natural systems. And Nature is demanding that humans fall back; that we retreat from our overshoot by contracting in numbers, ambition, and hubris. I don’t think we are capable of doing what Nature demands of us in any self aware and peaceful manner.

In an ideal world the total population of humans on Earth would be a billion or less. We would have knowledge of the wonders of electromagnetic powers; we would understand biological systems, harness the power of nanotechnology, and we would thrive in equilibrium with our available dense energy resources as we continued to develop our knowledge of the universe.

But how do we get to there from where we are now in overshoot, over consumption, and over committed to continuous growth?

My presumption is that we won’t change with logic or foresight. Instead, we will push on as we are until Nature achieves a diminishing of human numbers through violent turmoil. We will be the directors of our own diminishing because we are incapable of directing ourselves toward a willing contraction of our unsustainable destruction of our natural habitat—Earth.