Exactly why we first have to understand where the thresholds are, what feedback actually changes the response, and how soon to implement it. This is why I keep harping on UBI based on sales tax. People need impetus to be valuable to their places and each other (UBI), as well as knowing the real cost of buying products (voting for corporations and government to accelerate growth, profits and overproduction). When combined with the reality that in the current state of energy use, every dollar is a petroleum-based function, then if we want to cut petroleum use, we have to either cut dollar use or disconnect value from petroleum. One hour of desk jockeying can buy 1000 manhours of work in the form of gasoline ($40/hr buys 10 gallons), or about 500 manhours of work in the form of electricity (444 @ 12 cents/kwh). The level of wasted cheap work is absolutely unbelievable when you consider that 1000 manhours is at a 20% conversion rate (10 hp-hrs per gallon (really old numbers), so the amount of energy wasted from the money we 'make' and then convert to activity is actually 5000 manhours worth, pumped into the atmo as heat and CO2. Add on the amount used to extract and process those 10 gallons, and it gets even more ridiculous.

All of our bullshit jobs combine into something like a Petro Black Hole of suicidal beanie baby production: just fluff and stuff with no plan or useful contribution to soil or life. Humanity's soul is going up in subsidized smoke while the advertising for it is tax deductible.