If you paint a picture of Sonic the Hedgehog in your living room, you are technically creating an unauthorized derivative work—but in practice, no one cares. Private, noncommercial creation has always lived in a space where copyright law exists on paper but is rarely enforced.

Gift it to a friend? Still functionally tolerated—a technical act of distribution that copyright law mostly ignores at human scale. Take a photo and post it on Instagram? Now you’ve crossed into public distribution of a derivative work without permission. Under the letter of the law, that’s infringement, although a fair-use defense might apply and Sega almost certainly won’t care. It’s fan engagement, free marketing, and good PR.

Sell that painting, though, and the tolerance disappears. You’re no longer a fan, you’re a competitor.

Growing up in the 90s and early 2000s, tech was a foundational part of my childhood.

I built more physical computers than I can remember. We went from paper maps to GPS (which itself evolved from DVDs with static maps to internet-connected real-time navigation). CD players became MP3 players, then streaming services. We had Palm Pilots and early attempts at “smart” phones, which were anything but. Our computers could search for extraterrestrial life through SETI. We emerged from the pager era to portable phones to the entire internet in our pocket (which evolved from charging per SMS or megabyte to unlimited data plans).

For most of history, humanity’s greatest accomplishment has been its ability to out-accelerate its own existential problems.

The acceleration in population growth put pressure on food supplies, health, and energy. In response, we invented fertilizer, sanitation, and a vast array of energy generation and storage technologies. Humanity now thrives in high-density environments.

This acceleration has enabled humanity to adapt and flourish despite a constant barrage of challenges. One might assume that this trend will continue indefinitely.

But what if that era is ending — as we approach limits imposed by physics across a variety of domains?