Yes, it is probably also the case that the people indirectly give their rulers justice by consuming heavily, proclaiming all rights for themselves, going on vacations diligently, wanting to have everything at all times, and assuming that the standard not only needs to be maintained but even further improved, whatever that may mean.

Going back to getting firewood and living in dependent communities or micro-societies is probably such a frightening idea that no one can really imagine it being feasible. Nevertheless, the tendencies are there: towards nationalism, back into the family, a return to paternalistic religion? In some parts, at least, this can be observed. No one really has an answer to it.

I hold the same view as the German economist Niko Paech: if possible, I'm adapting to a post-growth economy. Where I will have to do without a lot of things and luxuries without being shocked by it or being haunted by despair. I started my life about ten years ago to switch to an economy based on rather renunciation and I have not yet quite made the leap into the culture of exchange and repair, although I am learning a part of it. For example, I sew clothes and don't buy new clothes, but used ones.

It is difficult to accept a world that is global and yet create micro-societies that are local. I would agree with both, because otherwise how to avoid all this war? The drivers of innovation, for example, who develop a technology that is independent of oil and other earthly resources, are probably always somewhat in the minority, and again it is impossible to foresee how much even innovation requires raw materials. It really does seem to me that one viable way is to restrict oneself as much as possible voluntarily in terms of nutrition, mobility and other things. Insofar as this self-restriction is not practised by majorities, some voices fear that in future one would have to live under an eco-dictatorship.

As always, we do not know.

I agree, people really aren't blind to what is been seen as highly problematic. They just don't have easy answers.