The Malaise of Wealth: Transition to Post Scarcity

[The Dharma Bum]

[Boris Johnson]

Dude your going to need to sum that up.

[Boris Johnson]

Anyway given it a skim read. Nothing he says addresses the fundamental Malthusian problems surrounding food, potable water or energy. The only one he seems to even consider is food, to which the answer is 'poor foreigners and robots'.

Calling it wishful thinking would be being very charitable.

[The Dharma Bum]

It's only a few paragraphs long.

It gives a couple examples that show we are transitioning into a post scarcity economy. It gives an example of some of the technology that will available soon (already exists, just needs refinement) that expedite the transition.

The point is we are already producing more than we need, and with less work necessary for the same production level every day. The take-away is this. Society is actually not experiencing economic difficulty due to unemployment or the "recession", but due to our refusal to see that we are transitioning into a post scarcity economy and the attendant refusal to act accordingly, which is causing massive social damage.

We are producing all that we need and much more, but our distribution model depends on people being employed to get chits to trade for goods and services. When less than full employment is needed to produce what society demands then this model breaks down due to an internal inconsistency. People need a job to get chits. But with no jobs available that means no chits which means no goods or services to be distributed. It's not a problem with the products not existing. They exist, it's just that a large portion of the population has no way to get the goods and services produced by society because our distribution model is rapidly becoming obsolete and is not providing employment for all. And the numbers are only going to get larger as we continue to progress technologically.

We thus find ourselves in the ironic position of having rampant poverty a midst the greatest wealth the world has ever know. This intolerable situation exists because our system is inadequate for the task at hand. It will change. Will we be the ones who guide the change, or we be destroyed by it, that's the question we need to be asking ourselves.

[The Dharma Bum]

[Boris Johnson]

Well tdb, its sort of your argument to make. I've skimmed it a few times now. But if you really want me to start taking this post-scasity stuf seriously. Your going to have to start presenting serious solutions to the really fundamental problems. Yes consumerist society is silly, yes its wasteful. Yes wealth is concentrated. Awesome. However, raging against the machine does not somehow provide magical solutions to the basic Malthusian problem. Namely population growth is exponential, carrying capacity of an environment can be expanded but it is not infinite. If one considers we've got pretty lucky with being able to expand out utilization of carrying capacity already (The green revolution literally saved india from a f**k collosal famine). Predicating the 'plan' for the most basic goods on 'poor foreigners and robots' (that really is, as far I can see the most concrete proposal in the piece). Furthermore, there are even some who believe we've passed the sustainable population a few billion ago, thats without factoring in climate charge, and lions and tigers oh me oh my!

Also he seems to make some basic economic error's
1) he seems to base everything on the raise of GDP. Fun fact about GDP the reconstruction work post massive tsunami in a poor asian country makes it GDP rise as a whole, why? the reconstruction work is counted. Just using GDP is a bad idea, which is why no srs economics does.
2) All of his analogies seem to ever be linked to the service economy or veblen goods. As i've noted the important basic stuff he just skips over.

Anyway, to present some specific problems. Which i'm damn near sure doom 'post scarcity' talk to the crankorium, that is unless someone develops limitless energy and replicators. Which, would be nice.

Furthermore, i'll focus just on the american context as thats what he seems to be doing (which I think misses the point in a lot of big ways but hey, whatever).

How does he or you propose to solve the potable water problem in the south west? Once all the fat cats are put against the wall does the Colorado basin water cycle just suddenly speed up or something?

Also with the 'we make enough food' yes, america does, its actually quite rare in that. However, given a lot of that food production is currently predicated on the High Plains Aquifers, of which the Ogallala is taxed beyond sustainable levels. How will food production just always be ok?

Energy, just pfft.. whats the plan here?

[Boris Johnson]

The whole thing is predicated on constant real economic material growth being possible, which is demonstrably false also I might add .

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Dharma Bum]

[The Dharma Bum]

Look at this:
http://www.novedge.com/products/6388?AF ... PAodzSAAAg

There are already 3D printers avaiable for home use. Fairly affordable too.