When Human Wants and Digital Money Encounter the Limits

by

J. Anthony Cassils    

July 3, 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Quandary

 

We humans know that we live on a beautiful little planet that is like a speck of dust in the vast Universe.  Earth is 12,756 kilometers (7,926 miles) in diameter, 40,075 kilometers (24,901 miles) in circumference, and we recognize that the delicate film of the ecosphere that surrounds the Earth is the only place where life as we know it can survive and even thrive.  These are facts taught to most schoolchildren.  The living Earth is our Paradise, a place of consummate beauty and delight.  We must tread cautiously and tend this unique planet with care as if our lives depend on it and they do.

 

But humans seem more intent on plundering the planet at the same time as our understanding of the ecosphere and the interdependence of all life has bloomed in the last century. This bifurcation of awareness creates great peril for a humanity that is at war with itself. Most informed people know of the threat to all life posed by the long list of ecological problems resulting from the exponential increase in human numbers and consumption during the last few centuries. There is no need to repeat them all here.[1]  Humans are now in a state of overshoot, having grown beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity.[2] We are rapidly drawing down finite resources and stealing from future generations. One astonishing example goes to the core of the problem and that is the exponential growth of the human consumption of fossil fuels.  In 2022, the BP Statistical Review of World Energy[3] noted that of all the oil consumed since the dawn of the modern oil age in 1859, half of it has been consumed between 1998 and 2021.  This is a shocking example of the power of exponential growth. It reveals the extent of human short-term thinking since this massive increase in consumption has been done with the full knowledge of the serious consequences for climate change.​

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​​​​​​​​​​​​This quandary raises the following questions:

 

1. What is human nature?

 

2. Can narratives to guide human behaviour save us from ourselves?

 

3. What is the likely outcome if current trends continue?

 

4. What is the most rational goal and is it achievable?

 

 

What is Human Nature?

 

This subject has been examined extensively in philosophy, psychology and theology with inconclusive results. The Christian position is that humans are created in the image of God, and this flattering perspective attracted believers, encouraged some good actions but struggles to explain the destructive side of human behaviour. The dual forces in humanity have often been described as good and evil with the assumption that good must try to triumph over evil.  In some traditional religions and ethical systems, good includes those measures which are conducive to human well-being with evil encompassing actions that undermine the individual and the common good. This ethical framework is largely anthropocentric with the emphasis being on what is good for human beings. Other life forms do not fare well as evidenced by the growing list of species driven to or near extinction because of human actions. What is considered good or evil can change over time and this era of ecological crises may lead to a consensus that goodness is that which is conducive to the flourishing of all life on Earth, while evil is that which undermines it.

 

Science has looked into human nature with careful observation and objective scientific methods, putting together pieces of knowledge while the mystery of the whole remains unresolved.  For example, a full understanding of consciousness eludes humanity. Some scientists examined other species to shed some light on human behaviour.  As examples, Pavlov looked into triggers for salivation in dogs, D. O. Hebb studied the behaviour of mice in various conditions including the negative effects of overcrowding.  While the focus of their work was to gain insights into human behaviour, their experiments implicitly acknowledge the interconnection of all life on Earth. 

 

The science of ecology offers an integrative approach which is ecocentric rather than anthropocentric, recognizing that the ecosphere is the source of all life of which humans form a part. The study of other life forms can teach us much about human nature. To separate human nature from the nature of all life is an example of the belief in human exceptionalism. All life on Earth has evolved from the basic cell.  All life depends on the film of ecosphere that envelops the Earth.  All life forms feed on one another. That is the way of life and that pattern of behaviour is at the root of human nature.  It should come as no surprise that humans are behaving like a plague of locusts, exploding in numbers until the food supply is exhausted, followed by the collapse of the population. Locusts are triggered into a plague cycle when heavy rains result in an abundance of green plants. Humans are behaving in a similar way after the discovery of fossil fuels. Some might protest this comparison arguing that humans are so much more clever and enterprising, having developed speech and written language and empowered by technologies that tear apart the Earth to sustain them. While it is true that humans have been much more ingenious than locusts, the impulse is the same – to expand until they can no more, followed by collapse.

 

Can Narratives to Guide Human Behaviour Save Us from Ourselves?

 

Many narratives have evolved from hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution within the ecosphere. The dominant narratives are tied to the need for the human species to thrive and expand and most are primarily rooted in emotions and instincts.  As a consequence the narratives often conflict with reason and with one another. 

 

Let us consider briefly some of the dominant narratives:

 

• The Golden Rule – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This rule is found in many of the established religions. It connects with the profound social nature of human beings and the kindness inherent in the rule often begets kindness and this response is its own reward. It contains within it elements of justice and fairness. At a more pragmatic level, as the human population grew resulting in more crowded settlements, governors promoted the golden rule since it encouraged humans to self-regulate their behaviour and made societies easier to administer.  The effect of the rule is to encourage empathy and to increase human numbers by helping those in distress. It emphasizes human needs above those of other life forms and therefore reinforces the idea of human exceptionalism, that humans are the pinnacle of all life.

 

• Serving Institutions – Institutions, Individuals and Civitas:  Advances in organization skills have made possible the rapid human expansion over the past few millennia. The Roman concept of civitas was one of the early frameworks for managing institutions and contributed to the rise and longevity of the Roman Empire. Civitas defined the relationship between the individual and the community emphasizing civic participation, legal rights, duties, and cultural identity. Roman society, through civitas, was managed by magistrates, assemblies, and a hierarchy of rights and responsibilities, making it an early example of institutional governance. Given the renowned success and impact of the Roman Empire, the tenets of civitas have influenced the structure of organizations for centuries and can be found in contemporary management consulting.  The main focus is on the effective use of individuals within institutions to achieve collective ends.  Corporations are institutions that are major employers, have their own cultures, can become very powerful, and their objectives may not coincide with those of society at large, for example, the tobacco companies. Most corporations actively pursue growth. While the golden rule strives to improve the individual from the inside out, institutions judge individuals based on the performance of their respective functions in the interest of the state or corporation.

 

• The Hunt for Economic Power – The allegiance to economic growth, private property, the rights of the individual and profit seeking – the relentless search for sustenance and profit in the market economy is a process in which everyone participates for it is tied to survival.  It transcends national borders. It is supported by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by nations that allow individuals to acquire property and pursue profitable activities that are within the law and with some on the margins. Migration is accepted because it lowers the cost of labour and aids the restless human quest for more individual consumption, the promise of which keeps the individual striving within the system rather than trying to demolish it, thereby protecting the small elite who control most of the wealth. The human anxiety about illness and death encourages the pursuit of ever more profit to create a surplus to counter the fears of mortality.  Innovation and new technologies abet the expansion. Enough is rarely enough.  A suitable heraldic crest for humanity might picture an open mouth with the index finger pointing into it and the motto would be “more.” The result is that humans are locked by their penchant for more into a system of exponential economic growth which demands more resources without which it would implode.  It is ironic that the demand for human rights has become more shrill at a time when the continuation of exponential growth of human numbers and consumption is beginning to be constrained by the limitation of natural resources on planet Earth, condemning many millions to inescapable poverty.

 

• The Quest for Political Power – Humans are among the most social of species. As a result, positions of leadership and influence are of great importance and hotly contested.  Advances in telemedia technologies and polling are increasing the ability to direct and shape public opinion and consciousness with lightning speed in order to gain and hold political power. The smart phone together with artificial intelligence have the capacity to reach billions of people with information and misinformation tailored to their interests revealed by the analysis of the personal data of each user. This potent combination of the telemedia has the capacity to find out not only what people are thinking but also to program them through their personal communications devices.  As societies are becoming more diverse, politicians promise different things to various special interest groups and the promises often conflict.  Contradictory statements from political leaders reduce trust in politicians, in the political system and in language itself thereby undermining social consensus.

 

Money is the universal balm that unites politicians and their potential followers. Political promises usually result in more indebtedness and inflation. In keeping with the human propensity to favour the short-term, the benefits of this largess come quickly, while the negative effects accumulate over time. For example, after the financial crisis of 1907 the United States established the Federal Reserve System in 1913 with the dual mandate of ensuring price stability and maximum employment. The tendency of politicians to overspend public funds to meet human demand results in a devalued currency. Reflecting this political practice, the Federal Reserve has clearly failed to maintain price stability with the purchasing power of the US dollar in 2025 less than one percent of what it was in 1913.  Political actions go hand-in-hand with the human craving for more and with the tendency to favour the short-term over the long-term.

 

• Recognizing and Honouring Ecological Limits – This narrative is the most recent of the five mentioned in this paper and is the one that is more closely linked to reason and science. It requires an understanding of ecosystems, the ecosphere and of the impact of human action on the health of the Earth. As humans are encountering some limits to growth, this narrative also requires that humans show more restraint than in the past, a transition that many will resist as a curtailment of their freedom.

 

We humans need to learn to live within the emerging ecological guidelines. Ecology is an integrative science that evolved from biology, natural history, geography, geology and social sciences. The term ecology was first used in 1866 by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel to describe the relationships among organisms and their environments. While ecology does not reveal objective laws such as the laws of thermodynamics in physics, the combination of relationships and interdependence does reveal guidelines that are more conducive to the health of the ecosphere and to human survival.  For example, photosynthesis is a process by which plants and various forms of algae use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugars and release oxygen as a byproduct. Photosynthesis has reduced carbon dioxide and increased oxygen in the atmosphere and geological processes sequestered the carbon underground creating an ecosphere that was conducive to all life as we know it. But as humans expanded, they began to run short of fuel until in the 18th and 19th centuries they came upon the buried stores of carbon in the form of coal, oil and natural gas which they called fossil fuels. The exponential growth of the human consumption of fossil fuels has released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and warmed the planet which will have dire consequences for humanity and all life.  Many other ecological issues threaten humanity including water shortages, the loss of topsoil, the extinction of many species, the destruction of forests, and the pollution of the oceans and the atmosphere.  While some people try to reduce their environmental impact in response to emerging ecological insights, for most “What’s for lunch?” takes precedence over essential steps to prevent a planetary inferno in a century or two.

 

 

What is the likely outcome if current trends continue?

 

The human pillaging of the Earth will likely lead to the exhaustion of natural resources and a simultaneous collapse of the population. In a world of growing scarcity, human wants and digital money will remain infinite. To maintain the illusion of continued growth and progress, politicians will attempt to conceal the encounter with ecological limits through infusions of digital currency.  The resulting acceleration of inflation will be a key measure of the approach of this great human decline.  This bleak conclusion follows from the following facts and assumptions about human behaviour:

• human nature is similar to that of other life forms which expand opportunistically until stopped by circumstances;

• humans continue to expand their consumption of fossil fuels exponentially with the full knowledge of the environmental consequences;

• humans often deny environmental guidelines which inhibit human consumption in the short term while acknowledging the likelihood of a grim future in the long term;

• four of the five dominant narratives mentioned above favour the expansion of the human enterprise;

• the narratives link to human emotions, are present in varying degrees in most people, and are often in conflict creating feelings of confusion and despair making consensus on remedial action difficult to attain;

• to make sense of the world, some will adhere tenaciously to a few of the narratives and exclude the others. But if the intention is to be enlightened humans, great effort should be made to acknowledge and integrate all the narratives simultaneously if possible.

 

 

What is the most rational goal and is it achievable?

 

If humans were rational, they would reduce their population and consumption to remain well within the carrying capacity of the Earth over the long term. 

 

While the goal is sensible, as with so many issues confronting humanity, the solutions are elusive because of conflicting narratives.

 

For example, in 1983, The Brundtland Commission was created to address the need to improve the standard of living in the poorer parts of the world in the context of the growing evidence of global environmental decline.  In its report, “Our Common Future,” published in 1987, the Commission proposed the concept of sustainable development which they defined as an approach to growth and human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  After presenting a bleak and accurate summary of global environmental deterioration (the global ecological limits narrative), the Report advocated sustainable development which they conceived as raising all the poorer regions of the world to a modest European standard of living thereby serving the narratives for economic growth, the golden rule and the quest for political support for the Report from the many small undeveloped countries in the United Nations.  The fact that such an increase of living standards would require a multi fold increase in global production and the impact of this on the already overburdened ecosphere were not adequately addressed. Nor did the Report place enough emphasis on the massive contribution of population growth to the human burden on Earth.  One assumption underlying the Report was that more prosperity in the less developed regions of the Earth would lead to a lower birth rate but this is not guaranteed. Life is opportunistic and expands when times are relatively bountiful. Some proponents of the growth narrative tried to spin the concept of sustainable development as growth in perpetuity.

 

The Brundtland Report has generated much discussion and follow-up since 1987 but the human burden on the planet has increased exponentially with global GDP growth up more than five-fold in nominal current US dollars. The fact that the global population increased from 5 billion in 1987 to 8.2 billion in 2025 was a large contributing factor.

 

A thorny question that arises when considering steps to reduce the human burden on Earth is, who goes first?  Poorer countries say with justification that many of the environment problems are the result of the rapid economic growth over the last few centuries by developed countries which should lead in reducing consumption and pollution while allowing the poorer regions some leeway to improve their economic prospects (a stance influenced by the golden rule).  Given the power of the economic growth narrative, it is doubtful that major developed countries would willingly reduce growth if it resulted in a reduction of their standard of living as this would result in a loss of domestic political support.

 

A more theoretical example of how narratives conflict relates to issues of migration. If one country tries conscientiously to reduce its human burden on the environment (serving the institution of the state and acknowledging the ecological limits) creating an environmental surplus and higher per capita living standards, many people in other countries with rapidly growing human populations will try to migrate to the better managed country seeing it as a land of opportunity. The migration will be supported by advocates of the golden rule and economic growth.

 

Pluralism is a reality of human existence, not monism. Humans live by various perspectives and systems of belief, not just one.  While it is true that all life depends on the ecosphere, not all humans live as if that were so. Therefore, there is little likelihood that humans will act in concerted action to reduce their demands on the living Earth.

 

Life on Earth follows cycles, periods of great growth are followed by sharp contractions. As said earlier in this paper the only infinite things on this planet are human wants and digital money. Within the next century, humans will face growing scarcity resulting in rampant inflation and disorder. 

 

At some point the four horsemen will make their appearance. They may come by way of super bugs, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that are now spreading throughout the globe, or by the trend of growing human male infertility which may be caused by industrial pollutants, or by ways unforeseen.  But rest assured, if we humans continue on our current trajectory, they will come.

 

[1]For an excellent overview of the human eco-predicament see the following paper by William E. Rees. The human eco-predicament: Overshoot and the population conundrum. Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2023 (Vol. 21) pp. 21-39. https://www.austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576%200x003dcfa1.pdf

 

[2]William R. Catton, Jr.. Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Urbana and Chicago. University of Illinois Press. Illini Books edition. 1982. Catton defines carrying capacity as the maximum permanently supportable load. Overshoot is growth beyond an area’s carrying capacity which leads to die off. Over the past two centuries, humans have massively exceeded the carrying capacity of the Earth.

 

[3]Cobb, Kurt. https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Technology-vs-Scarcity-The-Worrying-Reality-Of-Exponential-Growth.html  July 17, 2022.