-The Singularity or "The Law of Accelerating Returns", a concept most attributed to Ray Kurzweil. Other corollarial concepts to this idea include Moore's Law and The Quickening.

-And in the other corner, resource depletion/peak oil/net energy and the consequences/limits of exponential growth (population, pollution, and the like).

I had been thinking about this idea for a while, mentioned it to my colleagues, etc. Then I saw this piece by John Tierney entitled "Malthus v. the Singularity" at the NYT a couple of weeks ago, which has kept it on my mind. My questions for you and some other ideas are under the fold.