Agreed. Not pure competition: Blind competition. You've been busy on this story. Thank you for the extensive consideration. It was originally just a comment-rant about how someone gets fixated on the violence problem without looking at the othering issue that precedes violence (well, there is just random crazy violence and economic violence, as you also pointed out).

I've only published 45 stories, so feel free to peruse my other hypocrisies. I haven't seen very much pushback on any of them and frankly, that is the echo chamber of Medium writers...

Supposedly the professional ones are moving to Substack. Personally, I can't imagine someone paying me 5 bucks every month unless I deliver a physical product with either welding or magic smoke (electronics) involved.

My writing is more like therapy to hack at questions in my head. The bot followers add up to pay the admission fee (if I publish, which I mostly don't (a couple thousand drafts and several thousand comments for a hobby).

"When a man becomes ill in his bowels, he immediately sets about saving the world." - Thoreau, I think.

As for utility as things get scarce, Nature and human nature will find that answer for themselves. Nature is bigger and meaner, so there's that part to consider as Colonialism drives its Meanifest Destiny into the barricades of EROEI vs 7 cheap things.