> Since we are clearly not in a utility maximizing world or anything close to it,

opens an interesting debate, "for what does our world maximize?" Which is another one of those things where your answer expresses your assumptions.

Clearly our world optimizes for burning resources as fast and wastefully as possible... Like algae that created a world of oxygen breathers. Right? If you're one of the critters whose mode of life that is, may be. We barely recognize the successes (and sometimes existence) of critters with different lives.

See also Ian Banks' book "Matter".