Correct me if I'm merely displaying staggering stupidity, but ... Imagine a future where energy is so abundant per capita and cats are considered so cute that viewing one lolcat image for ten seconds is considered more valuable than the equivalent of a billion barrels of oil. If one is a lolcat image creator, is one not then a contributor to the economy? If you develop a new type of cable which permits faster transmission of lolcats, have you not contributed to economic growth - and, I should add, contributed more meaningfully than someone who invents more efficient solar panels?

I have a feeling this whole "debate" hinges on some jerrymandered definition of "economy."