Hey, culture and civilization have always been "gigantic gambles". But most humans felt it was worth the gamble to rise above living like an ape in the woods, subject to slavery to the apes who were willing to take the gamble. Sorry, that bet was made 10,000 plus years ago.

Actually that could only be true if civilizations were planned, not a single civilization ever was. Civilizations evolve and are highly dependent on a number of very specific a priori conditions. If they weren't then peoples like the Australian Aborigines would have developed civilizations similar to that of the Egyptians since there are no underlying biological differences between the two and they are equally intelligent and equally capable. Jared Diamond's book Guns Germs and Steel does an excellent job of explaining how and why this happens.

Unfortunately humans seem to be built in a way that makes it very difficult for them to understand that they are not special and their civilizations are subject to natural laws, including the exponential function.

I would be much more impressed if humans civilizations started to live within their means. Not that I don't believe that it can't happen but every time I hear someone make a statement such as "we have risen above the apes", it really underscores the fact that humans (great apes) really haven't a clue.