Third Prophecy: Cultural Crisis. 'The third curve (on the left) is simply the mathematical curve for exponential growth. No physical quantity can follow this curve for more than a brief period of time. However, a sum of money, being of a nonphysical nature and growing according to the rules of compound interest at a fixed interest rate, can follow that curve indefinitely.' Hubbert, 1974, figure 1 via cluborlov.blogspot.com

Hubbert said, “The third curve (on the left) is simply the mathematical curve for exponential growth. No physical quantity can follow this curve for more than a brief period of time. However, a sum of money, being of a nonphysical nature and growing according to the rules of compound interest at a fixed interest rate, can follow that curve indefinitely … Our principle constraints are cultural … we have evolved a culture so heavily dependent upon the continuance of exponential growth for its stability that it is incapable of reckoning with problems of non-growth … it behooves us … to begin a serious examination of the…cultural adjustments necessary … before unmanageable crises arise. …” […]

Hubbert’s Third Prophecy