People treat technology and science like it's some magic thing that will keep getting more advanced to the point it can do any magical thing. But sometimes the answer science gives you is "there is literally not enough matter and energy on our planet to ever do this."

I blame the Civilization games

Liberal capitalism too, but also the Civilization games

Incidentally, this is one thing I love about Shadow Empire. It's a 4X game that takes place on a randomly generated planet, all resource deposits are finite, and you have to tailor your economic and military strategy to the planetary conditions and resources available. If the planet's a lifeless rock, it won't have any oil reserves, so your motorized and mechanized forces will have to rely on biodiesel or electric engines. No atmosphere but lots of rare earth metals? Get your power from solar panels. Bone-dry desert world? You will fight all-out wars for an underground lake.

[–] CthulhusIntern@hexbear.net 19 points 4 days ago

This mindset existed long before Civ though.