Yes and the person living in my shadow didn't get a sunburn as a result. Zero sum.

Not for 'Earth', the energy came from outside.

The sun hitting the planet at a given moment is on the order of 100 petawatts. Human energy utilization is on the order of 15 terawatts. It's a really good thing that it isn't zero sum.

Nah this is still zero sum. It's limited by the amount of watts we can reasonably extract from the 100 petawatts per day.

We use a fraction of the energy hitting the earth because we can only extract a fraction of it. In this case rate of replenishment functions as a limit. If our rate of usage exceeds the rate in which we can viably extract useful energy from the sun then that means not everyone can have access to this energy. This is a limit. Zero Sum.

If Energy truly was unlimited nobody would be paying for it.

It's not zero sum within the earth system.

Trees don't pay for energy.

It is zero sum within the earth system because the energy is limited.

Trees compete for light. The taller trees win, the shorter trees are deprived of sunlight and therefore are the losers.

Agreed. The Zero Sum game is critical for evolution. Competition for limited resources is the very reason why complex organisms exist.

Any economic model of society that doesn't involve the zero sum nature of reality is highly highly inaccurate.

> Yes and the person living in my shadow didn't get a sunburn as a result. Zero sum.

Are your comments meant to be some kind of elaborate satire?

Naw. Just this one. How else do you respond to some random: "Ever get a sunburn?"