Wouldn’t the opposite be true? The less energy required, the broader the potential? An excess of reliance on power and energy seems to make people stupid, not smart. Yes, it’s good for brute force control, yet that’s not quite the only expression of civilization.

They could be floating in our peripheral vision, riding our brain waves and we wouldn’t know it, because we can’t consciously absorb 99% of what is actually happening.

We have very node type thinking, aka individualism, but the reality is that we are part of this biological network, that is as invisible to us, as water to fish. How many people find they have more errant ideas popping into their brains, when they are around other people, than when they are alone? How many people tend to settle into similar brain waves/clock rates as the people around them and exhibit herd like behavior? I think we have only scratched the surface of what it means to be conscious. We are not individual bricks, so much as parts of walls. Sensitivity to this requires energy, but very nuanced.