[extropy-chat] Social Implications of Nanotech

[Robin Hanson]

On 11/16/2003, Eugen* Leitl wrote:
> > Energy is probably around 1-2% of GDP, while medicine is about 14% in the
> > US.  Solar energy collection doesn't need atomic precision - what other
>
>Making polymer PV doesn't take self-reproduction as long as the costs are
>about the costs for sheet plastic, but installing it becomes cost-dominant
>then. A self-replicating photosynthetic system can cover large land areas
>quickly for negligible cost, creating a huge resource base for feedstock,
>energy, fabbing, signalling, and transportation.
>Cheap polymer PV is a major piece of good news, but it's not a world-changer.
>Artificial trees, now we're talking.

Yes, self-reproducing self-installing trees may well require atomic precision.

> > If you think the (marginal) cost of energy might go to zero, then unless
> > you have a story about how the (marginal) cost of marketing goes to 
> zero, I
>
>If I start giving away platinum bars on the marketplace, you can assume that
>news will propagate through the body of my potential customers with record
>speed. My marketing budget is zero: it's all propagates along the network
>of my potential customers.

Even if consumers undertake most of the marketing costs themselves, those costs
still exist.  By marketing I just mean the process by which consumers find
out what products are out there, their features, quality, price, and so on.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323