[girvo]

> At some point we get The Culture

Having recently read the entire series, I'm of two minds when it comes to that scenario. Part of me thinks that it can't come fast enough, but the other part knows that without faster than light travel it's nearly impossible; without a way of gaining more space to live in, pressures on living space will become the source of our conflict even if the capitalist economy as we know it today has broken down...

[dllthomas]

That assumes we keep growing at O(n^3). Certainly we're doing that now, and may well continue, but it's not clear to me that it's guaranteed. Certainly there are places where the birth rate is below replacement.