Empirically, the current revolution in computer and information technologies promises to further increase human capacities and efficiencies, by revolutionizing the production process, and especially its research, development, application and education side. Production depends on the availability of different factors, traditionally land, labour, capital and technology. Should a specific resource become scarce, its price will rise relative to available substitutes. The market will thus reward both innovation and substitution by enabling those companies that are able to innovate their production process to either eliminate the use of the scarce resource, or make use of cheaper substitutes. Scarcity is thus not a barrier to growth and production .
Capitalism is a cyclical system.
Rather, it always presumes the creative destruction of some capitalists at the expense of others, with the acid test of survival being dictated by the market. Virtualization is a way to have both growth and less physical consumption, demonstrating that the two are not inexorably linked. I am not familiar with the Jorgenson and Grilleches study. Their results do indeed seem surprising. However, theirs is only one study.