In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the relentless push for more capabilities and additional features has created a cycle of unsustainable growth. This essay explores the concept of “x times (capabilities + features)”—an infinite regress that leads to unsustainable systems. As complexity increases, so do the demands on energy, resources, and human capital. However, there is an alternative: Plateaugration, a model where systems maintain their current present value, adjusting only to meet external demands such as inflation or environmental factors. This concept offers a way to balance growth without overloading systems. Throughout this essay, I will introduce Plateaugration, examine the consequences of the current model of unsustainable growth, and present a future vision where technology regression—far from being a risk—becomes a positive, culturally driven shift. The essay will conclude by considering how cryptocurrency and blockchain technology could eliminate inflation and support sustainable system design.
The Problem: Infinite Regress in Capabilities and Features
Technological systems are caught in an endless cycle of expanding capabilities and proliferating features. This growth can be mathematically expressed as:
Where S(t) represents a system’s sustainability at time t, x reflects external growth pressures, and C(t) and F(t) are the system’s capabilities and features. As capabilities expand, new features must be added to exploit them. Conversely, the addition of new features demands further capability enhancements. Over time, this leads to an exponential increase in system complexity, resulting in “feature bloat” or “capability fatigue.” This infinite feedback loop destabilises systems, making them harder to maintain, scale, and secure. Leveson (2012) highlights that as systems become more complex, their unanticipated interactions create new risks, leading to unsustainability.
Recent research highlights the scale of this problem in our modern, data-driven world. The International Energy Agency (IEA, 2021) notes a sharp rise in global data centre electricity consumption, driven by the demand for cloud computing, AI, and data-intensive applications. This surge exemplifies the unsustainable loop of increasing capabilities and features, as each new technological advancement requires more resources to sustain. Brooks’ (1995) “second-system effect” famously warned against overcomplicating systems, and today’s cloud-based infrastructures demonstrate the exponential inefficiencies he foresaw.
The Qualitative Consequences of Unsustainable Growth
As systems continue to expand in both capabilities and features, the consequences extend beyond mere technical inefficiencies. The environmental impact is significant, particularly with the Internet, which is fast becoming unsustainable. Global data centres require vast amounts of energy and fresh water to cool servers, placing strain on natural resources. According to Nature Sustainability (2020), data centres account for a growing share of water usage in regions that are already suffering from water scarcity. These centres also consume massive amounts of energy, leading to questions about whether such resources would be better allocated to more pressing human welfare needs, such as healthcare or education (Greenpeace, 2021).
Culturally, the relentless drive for technological upgrades could lead to a threshold shift—a cultural moment where society collectively rejects the demand for constant expansion in favour of sustainability. This shift might arise out of necessity, due to resource shortages, or from a growing environmental consciousness. Technology regression, rather than being a risk, could offer a positive opportunity for societies to rethink their relationship with digital systems and technological complexity. Graziotin et al. (2014) argue that as systems grow overly complex, they fatigue both users and developers. A potential cultural pivot away from “more” might involve abandoning smartphones or other high-tech devices in favour of simpler tools like CB radios, which can be networked across large areas with minimal resource use.
Plateaugration: A New Model for Sustainable Growth
In contrast to the unsustainable model of constant technological expansion, Plateaugration advocates for growth only as much as is needed to maintain a system’s present value. This means optimising and saturating existing capabilities rather than endlessly adding new features. The focus is not on doing less with less, a common de-growth argument, but rather on doing the same with less. By leveraging efficiency, systems can be optimised to maintain their current functions while reducing resource consumption.
This model finds practical support in the rise of intermediate technology, where high-tech tools are combined with more accessible, low-tech solutions to create a sustainable, decentralised system. Science Advances (2021) highlights 3D printing as an example of this principle in action. Decentralised manufacturing through 3D printing reduces the need for global supply chains, allowing local production with minimal resource use. A future guided by Plateaugration could see a merging of advanced digital systems and analogue tools, providing opportunities to maintain high standards of living with fewer resources.
The Internet and Fresh Water Consumption: A Case Study in Unsustainability
The internet, in its current form, is a prime example of unsustainable system design. According to a 2023 report by the IEA, data centres are among the most significant consumers of both electricity and water. As data demands grow, the energy needed to maintain cloud services and streaming platforms escalates, placing further strain on global energy resources. Nature Communications (2022) warns that without a strategic shift, the internet’s energy and water consumption will become unmanageable.
A system designed under the principles of Plateaugration would prioritise optimising current resources. Instead of continuing to build more data centres or adding features that require more bandwidth, the focus would shift to increasing the efficiency of existing infrastructure. This approach could involve developing cooling technologies that reduce water consumption or exploring ways to limit energy use without sacrificing essential internet functions. By realigning the internet with sustainable principles, we could redirect resources toward pressing global needs.
Technology Regression: A Positive Shift Through Threshold Theory
Rather than seeing technological regression as a risk, it can be understood as a positive shift aligned with threshold theory—where a cultural move away from demand occurs either by necessity or conscience. This is not about simply doing less but doing the same with less. By optimising existing systems, we can move away from excessive feature growth and maintain functional systems without unsustainable resource consumption.
A critical component of this shift could be the adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Due to its decentralised and immutable nature, blockchain has the potential to eliminate inflation by design. Fry and Cheah (2016) highlight how cryptocurrency systems prevent arbitrary monetary expansion, a key driver of inflation in traditional fiat systems. Moreover, the transparent and decentralised structure of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin caps the supply of currency, ensuring that inflation is essentially neutralised over time.
More recent studies by Narayanan et al. (2019) emphasise the potential of blockchain to transform economic systems by eliminating the need for resource-heavy, centralised banking infrastructures. By shifting economies to blockchain-based currencies, we could reduce the energy and resources needed to support traditional financial systems, which include everything from physical bank branches to complex international transaction networks. This shift to decentralised financial systems would exemplify Plateaugration—doing the same with less—by reducing the resource intensity of managing economic systems.
Sustainable Project Management: The Plateaugration Approach
For project management, Plateaugration offers a sustainable framework by focusing on maintaining present value rather than constant expansion. This approach encourages project managers to implement modular systems that can adapt over time without becoming bloated by unnecessary features. Leveson (2012) proposes that by limiting the scope of system growth, it’s possible to create systems that are both efficient and resilient in the face of changing demands.
A Plateaugration-inspired project management strategy would prioritise efficiency, scalability, and long-term sustainability. Projects could be designed to meet immediate needs while remaining adaptable to future changes without requiring substantial new investments in resources or infrastructure.
Conclusion
The cycle of “x times (capabilities + features)” leads to unsustainable systems where complexity grows unboundedly. The alternative—Plateaugration—offers a way forward, focusing on saturation and optimising systems to maintain their present value. By shifting toward a model that prioritises efficiency over endless growth, society can build sustainable systems capable of meeting present and future needs with fewer resources.
By incorporating cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies into this vision, we can eliminate inflation by design and create economic systems that are far more efficient than the traditional models. Through these shifts, technology regression becomes not a risk, but a positive cultural realignment with sustainability, ensuring systems are functional, adaptable, and enduring.
References
- Leveson, N. (2012). Engineering a Safer World: Systems Thinking Applied to Safety. MIT Press.
- International Energy Agency (IEA). (2021). Global Energy Data Report: Data Centre Energy Use.
- Greenpeace. (2021). Clicking Clean: Who is Winning the Race to Build a Green Internet?
- Nature Sustainability. (2020). Water and Energy Consumption in Data Centres.
- Fry, J., & Cheah, E-T. (2016). “Negative Bubbles and Shocks in Cryptocurrency Markets,” Journal of Risk Finance.
- Narayanan, A., Bonneau, J., Felten, E., Miller, A., & Goldfeder, S. (2019). *Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies: A Comprehensive Introduction