It's fiat currency combined with total energy crisis. It only retains value as long as people are willing to tolerate exponential destruction of resources by the already wealthy who can afford to bankroll any possible conversion of energy directly into 'money', no matter what workaround is required.

If it becomes 'the miners run for one second every day' and there is no way to cheat, these are the people who simply take the same amount of energy they were draining before, and come up with a way to store it the whole day… that or the world blacks out every day, because miners.

Bottom line is unless they get everything they want and dream of, including the eradication of government currency, the escalation will inevitably lead to a collapse where all the work becomes meaningless, valueless. All that energy will have been burned for NOTHING.

We just don't know when that will happen. Bitcoin is time, all right: time running out. Don't be caught still holding it when it pops.

On the other hand, the finite supply/deflationary aspect of it is also the perfect antithesis of consumerism, in that it favors hoarding (spending less) instead of spending your paycheck as you get it.

A lot of us could live a more simple life (i.e. no cars, fewer children). But humans are attracted to comfort and the ability to pursue their dreams.

Energy consumption != energy production. Bitcoin is incentivizing reusable energy and moving energy to cheaper locations, further from cities. I suggest you look into how it's actually quite positive for the Earth.