Finally, our past technological triumphs did not actually conserve natural resources, but instead enabled humanity to mine and use these resources at a lower overall cost, thereby hastening their depletion.
最后，我们过去的科技成果事实上并不保存自然资源，而且相反，它们使人类能够以低的总成本开采和使用这些资源，从而加速了它们的枯竭。