"For example, imagine a man we’ll call Sam, who was born in 1900 and died in 1974. Sam entered a world of iceboxes, horse-drawn buggies and, commonly, outhouses. He died in a world of air-conditioning, Chevy Camaros and Moon landings. His life was defined by dramatic material changes, and Sam worked feverishly hard to build a company that sold brake systems. Sam wasn’t the most refined person, but he understood that if he wanted to create a secure life for his family he had to create wealth."
I would add to this that between 1950, when Sam was an adult member of the working class, though nearing retirement, the world's population was 2 billion, and today, the world's population is 8 billion. That in itself is going to manifest incredible levels of change.
I think the trend we're going to see over the NEXT century is going to be a return to production, away from SOLELY consumption of goods, simply because, as the article stated, there are fewer low hanging fruits. Couple that with many more mouths to feed, and you have a recipe for a very different world in 100 years.
I believe just for the human race to survive, people will need to start growing food, en masse, at a local level. Even people in cities. Energy consumption continues to rise, but the means to produce it become more and more expensive. We will need to produce alternative methods of energy gathering - which are renewable. So what does the future hold, in my opinion?
1. Rapid population decline after continued population growth because of lack of ability to support growth (ie Malthusian theory) 2. A "return to the farm" - a resurgence in small farms. Energy costs WILL bring down big agrabusiness - just wait. 3. People using more LOCALIZED means to generate energy. In the Philippines, for example (I was there in July 2009), there were a lot of geothermal plants being built near volcanos. Hawaii has been investing a lot in harnessing wave power (and generating a lot of controversy from the surfer community). I attended a "Blue Planet" presentation in Honoulu in May 2009 and talked to many of the leaders of this initiative. Germany is the world's LEADER in solar energy now. People will take what they can get, where they can get it, to meet their power needs. Even in rural Kentucky, people are starting to put solar panels on their houses. 4. Thank god, less of an obsession with money and stuff. Basic survival will once again trump all other needs until we can again reach a level of production where people can go through another lazy cycle.