The economy is diverging on things vs. services because services require finicky human cooperation, understanding and knowledge, and "things" do not. Things can travel and stay on shelves, services can't.
And also, humans will tend to cheat when they can, and the longer lived a game is, the more specialized it becomes, and the harder it becomes to even recognize what is cheating and what is just "regular practice". You get something like "regulatory capture", but worse, because every element of the entire society captures another, forming a Gordian knot. Yet another path to Collapse, I'm afraid (probably a common one, I'd guess).
And also, humans will tend to cheat when they can, and the longer lived a game is, the more specialized it becomes, and the harder it becomes to even recognize what is cheating and what is just "regular practice". You get something like "regulatory capture", but worse, because every element of the entire society captures another, forming a Gordian knot. Yet another path to Collapse, I'm afraid (probably a common one, I'd guess).