Solving our problems here means solving our problems in space:

http://www.nss.org/settlement/nasa/spaceresvol3/pmofld1a.htm

"This discussion of geochemical availability and extractive metallurgy implies that extraction of minor elements in space is questionable unless specific natural concentrations are discovered or energy becomes very inexpensive. The relative costs of scarce and abundant metals will become even more disparate in the future on Earth as well as in space."

Coincidentally this substitution frequently means higher energy requirements, there is a paper called "The Age of Substitutability" that makes this requirement. Solar power may not even be the cheapest way out, given its thin distribution. I would expect us to go to space once we have solved the energy problem we are facing on earth. This isn't even just energy availability but also the decreasing ore concentration that requires greater energy inputs, even as far as abundant metals are concerned.

Also don't forget that ores in space probably are less concentrated in space, because hydrothermal processes aren't available to the degree we have them on earth, yet another reason to look for watery planets out there.

People are natural causes too!

Now if they just wouldn't insist to be some sort of animated machine of some sort.

"This assumption -- that understanding a system's constituent parts means we also understand the causes within the system -- is not limited to the pharmaceutical industry or even to biology. It defines modern science."

Well, it seems as if "explainable system" complexity has an upper, human, limit.

Interestingly people like Joe Tainter think that societies hit their limits by increasing energy requirements through increasing complexity. We may actually be testing our own limits as well.

Here is one more snippet from Wired:

"...they are much less effective at making sense of systems in which the variables cannot be isolated. Such situations require that we understand every interaction before we can reliably understand any of them. Given the byzantine nature of biology, this can often be a daunting hurdle, requiring that researchers map not only the complete cholesterol pathway but also the ways in which it is plugged into other pathways."

An energy efficient tool to help us think, i.e. not other humans, would be nice. Also notice that this limitation might also limit our engineering capabilities.

When he enters the real world he may figure out that a lot of code he will touch isn't exactly created through "software engineering" either.

He is exactly the type who is in for a nasty surprise, unless he can enter a field where peoples lives depend on his software, like aviation, defense, and maybe medicine.

Let me salute you, when I went to Australia I was amazed about all the European stuff I could get there. Your country has to be the most global place on earth, I was able to buy my favourite Ritter Sport, some asian woman asked me if I had ever been to Asia and it wouldn't have been a long trip, and somebody else complained about the russian mafia. I mean this was like home plus the other end of the world.

The US on the other hand was staunchly national compared to that.

Well once you start looking at net energy the picture becomes bleaker. To sad that all the theory is so squishy around it, i.e. where do you draw boundaries when looking at EROI.

Very nice! Some might find this hard to understand though, they threw out intellectual honesty or the idea that you are responsible for your own world view a long time ago. Set theory is something only specialized people can afford who have enough spare time and resources to attend math courses for 17 years.

One of those fantastic American presidents said that if you want to get rid of a stupid law you have to rigorously enforce it.

2075 is probably too late for some resources, phosphates come to mind. I'm still not sure about your centuries, but let me grant you the demographics argument.

Your fossil fuel supplies aren't up against the pressure of exponential growth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY

Most other resources aren't either.