Comment Re:No matter how much lipstick you put on it... (Score 1) 127
Well, after an initial period of deflation, there will be enough Bitcoin so that 10 billion people will be able to have an average of 210,000 Satoshis each.
Assume a Satoshi at that point is worth what a dollar is now. That still provides for quite a bit of economic growth from the average wealth now.
On a finite planet with finite resources, and a fixed or slightly declining human population as is predicted after 9 or 10 billion is reached, the only kind of economic growth that is sustainable is growth in valued virtual services. Such growth must be essentially zero-sum (or negative, actually) when it comes to throughput of non-renewable resources. Sure, innovation can continue, but some activities and products that take resources or deplete natural eco-system capital must cease when other products or activities are invented.
A steady-state economy based on renewable resources are maintenance of eco-system complesity is pretty much what physics dictates. Whether it happens smoothly and under our control or in massive cliff-fall crashes is up to our level of technical and social ingenuity. So far the signs are not very positive on that front.