Thank you, Cristyl. This thinking is how I came up with the concept I call "Net Future Usefulness". Others have similar ideas "robustness", "anti-fragility", "sustainability", but the value of NFU is that it encompasses the whole of Nature under one process and goal: Persistence.

From the quantum foam up until the heat death of the universe, it comes down to this:

A thing may persist if it adds more to its place and future self/offspring than it consumes.

The failings of humans always come down to how we compete at doing the opposite, whether it's on credit(stealing from future Me) or colonizing(stealing from somewhere else) or just unquestioned competitive markets(stealing a little from everyone for a few winners). In the long run, the only real profit is what we give to our places, not what is extracted "efficiently".

In a wealthy society, we need to start with an unqualified share (UBI, good health, education), and true cost pricing on consumptionism, as well as some honest management of information (cracking down on lies, especially to children(advertising, religion, political campaigns)).

There should be severe penalties for intentional falsehoods in the public domain where immature minds are exposed (see "Trump rally").