What is the Henry Adams Curve?

The Henry Adams Curve is a trend line, identified about a century ago by Henry Adams, which predicted that energy use would grow by approximately 2% or 2.5% per year. According to discussions on "The Lunar Society" podcast, this trend continued up until the 1970s. However, from the 1970s onwards, there was a deviation from this exponential growth in energy use per individual. This stagnation or flatlining in growth has been attributed to several factors, including ineffective government innovation policies and increased regulation, which have been discussed as barriers to technological advancements like flying cars and other ambitious projects. The concept also relates to a broader societal complacency and a reduction in ambition, impacting the realization of science fiction-like advancements previously imagined 1.