[extropy-chat] economics of scarcity to economics of plenty

[Samantha Atkins]

On Oct 31, 2005, at 8:17 AM, Brian Atkins wrote:

> BillK wrote:
>
>> So our magic machines will have to support a non-working population.
>> How? Everybody on Social Security?
>>
>
> No. Rather than everyone a worker for someone else, or everyone  
> getting free money dropped by government helicopters, I would  
> suggest considering the idea that more and more people need to  
> start considering becoming capitalists.
>
> Why moan about having to work for some other factory owner, or  
> losing your job to a robot, when you may be able to take advantage  
> of rapidly increasing technological-capability-per-buck to  
> eventually own your own automated hardware or software that would  
> allow you to operate your own company.

In a capitalist model in today's sense exactly how would you earn any  
money to save up to own these tools if the relative value of your  
labor/skills was too low to gain any employment?  How would you pay  
for more training or augmentation without any income source?

>
> Everyone, start saving up a down payment for your own robot crew  
> now. Eventually it'll be like buying a car. In the meantime try  
> running an Ebay business like the other million or so people that  
> already make a living there, or come up with some other way to take  
> advantage of currently available software, services, or new  
> hardware tech.

I believe there are around half a million people who make a living on  
ebay but it is an interesting point in today's economy.  But not far  
down the line you might be seriously outclassed by those who can  
afford the latest auction AI services.   Not so far-fetched when  
online poker bots are today making it foolhardy for a mere human to  
play poker online.

>

> The time of complaining "I can't start a business because of..." is  
> ending. Excuses based on costs of equipment, software, or materials  
> are going to fall by the wayside.

How do you figure?  If all those fall by the wayside then why would I  
need to own a micro-fab to make a living?

> Don't know how to administrate a company? There will be automated  
> software to handle it all.

For free?  If not see the questions at the beginning.

> I think corporate size is trending smaller and smaller, the long  
> tail is growing. Almost everyone will have to consider being a part  
> of this trend eventually. Start thinking now.
>

Great advice but I am unsure everyone can actually use it.

- samantha