Super-linear scaling and collapse

[GliderGuider]

2. I agree that it's optimistic.

Any time creativity is added to the mix, we get more outputs of various sorts for the same inputs. Of course some of those outputs are inevitably energy/material-consuming, so there's a positive feedback loop driving consumption. I think the process would be slowed but not stopped by a static population.

I don't quite follow your first point. Yes, if we run out of materials or energy to satisfy growth in {1} or {2} (e.g. not enough infrastructure or food) that will act to limit population. I don't see how that would act to bound {3}, which consists essentially of the outputs of human creativity. It would be slowed, as I said above, but I don't see any guarantee that it would be stopped. Of course, if a Liebig Limit is encountered in any of them, "rien ne va plus."