Incredibly thought provoking.  And I love the way you set up the conversation.  You write elegantly Tristan!

To Alan's point, you do paint a picture of a shift in context from scarcity to abundance.  I think one of the key culprits here is what we measure - Tim Hurson calls it the tyranny of shareholder value.  What we measure drives thinking and behavior.  Daniel Pink in Drive talks about a new kind of entity - instead of only "for profit" and "not for profit", he introduces a new kind of entity "organized for benefit".

Will we really be able to make the shift you speak of given the current construct, or do we need to start playing a new game of sorts that expands it's purpose and hence what is measured and valued?