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I don't think at all that we're near the limit of human ingenuity.

The quibble I had was with the "sustainable", which in that context, I read as indefinitely/infinitely sustainable (and it seems other responders have similar issues).

I agree that there should be a lot more human ingenuity ahead of us than behind us (assuming that those seeking power over others, e.g., megalomaniacs and autocrats, don't first destroy us).

That said, productivity of any one thing is certainly never an x^y sort of curve but eventually flattens and becomes asymptotic, if not declining.




That’s a bit like saying ‘we can only make horses so efficient’, which is true, but that’s why we end up coming up with automobiles, airplanes, etc.

As long as we have free brain cycles focused on solving problems or understanding something we do not yet understand, we’ll continue to do better.


Sustained innovation is finding a series of technologies with S-curve growth that can be transitioned away from as they approach their asymptotic limit. Then, society can stay in exponential phase until it hits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale#Type_III




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