Why Technological Progress Consumes the Future -- large Future Commons and the Institutional Limits of Market-Based Governance --

Technological progress has historically been associated with advancement, efficiency, and growth.Yet under conditions of planetary constraint, this same trajectory increasingly appears to compressrather than extend the future. This paper argues that technological evolution has been systematicallyoptimized toward short-term competitive success, thereby consuming future time as a structuralconsequence rather than a moral failure. The paper introduces the concept of the future commons: future conditions that are non-ownable,non-excludable, and irreversibly shaped by present action. Through an analysis of carbon credit marketsas a paradigmatic failure of future marketization, the paper demonstrates the structural incompatibilitybetween market logic and the governance of future commons. Building on this analysis, the paper proposes three institutional principles for governing the futurecommons---post-hoc responsibility, non-ownership, and temporal asymmetry---and shows how these principlesnecessarily transform the structure of competition. Rather than eliminating competition, a futurecommons framework reorients it toward sustained contribution, provisional evaluation, and accountabilityacross time.