"Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
Advantage: they self-replicate royalty free, something the nanobot company would never allow.
Such restrictions, or similar, might be a good idea in general. A gray-goo excursion would not be fun. Algae blooms cause enough damage as it is, and at least there are things that eat algae.
Am I misunderstanding you?
Harvesting a tiny fraction of the total solar energy available (on Earth) would look an awful lot like a miracle.
Look up Ilya Prigogine, self-organizing systems, and dissipative systems.
Humans and their societies (and other artifacts) are one such.
A lot of people aren't willing to stand up for what's right and good and feel that attacking you is an appropriate response when you criticize their feudal overlords. It's really depressing and disheartening.