I basically agree. That is why the simile is nested in caveats.

This assumes things like perfect information, which is arguably the biggest market failure that exists in relation to resources like helium. It may well be that versions of ourselves from twenty years in the future would be screaming at the top of their lungs for us to conserve the stuff. It’s also possible that scarcity is no big deal for them.

Markets by themselves cannot do a good job of making this decision. While markets are extremely powerful tools in many situations, they are not inherently equipped to deal with long-run issues of potentially extreme scarcity and uncertainty.

This is why we shouldn’t try to do it. Markets convey price signals which induce behavioural changes, exactly as you suggest. Trying to anticipate the future of technology and commerce, then forcing people to adhere to your vision, is a sure way of chocking off progress.

This is a terrible simile! The choice to use resources now or save them for later has very little to do with the choice to eat or not eat your canine companion at sea. The huge flaw is the degree to which choices are severely confined on a lifeboat, but almost infinite in life more generally. As such, the first is a very poor proxy for the second.