We wised up, conserved more. Once upon a time and a very good time it is, we look out onto the internet and see much that we feel is essentially limitless. Cheap hard disk space allows us to place vast quantities of information online. E-mail allows us to communicate around the world for the price of a local call. Digital units we can copy and paste.
Digital space goes on and on.
The coal kept us warm. The wood housed us. The steel gave us better tools. The oil helped us run our factories and moved us through our physical spaces at greater speeds. We used our physical resources to make life better and easier for ourselves.