[ExI] it was the best times, it was the best of times

[Adrian Tymes]

On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 1:44 AM, Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 06, 2013 at 03:32:28PM -0600, Kelly Anderson wrote:
> > There is more free or virtually free stuff available now than at any time
> > in human history. Certainly much of it is digital, but much of it is not.
>
> This is correct, but I expect we've peaked on that as well, or will
> do so shortly. Maybe any resident freegans can attest whether their
> pickings have declined in quality/became more slim lately.
>

Among the free services I get - nope.  I see no data, either statistical or
anecdotal from my own experience, that suggests we are anywhere near a peak
on this.

You are right to point out that free services are not free products,
though.  Someone always pays for the products eventually - even if that
price often (though not always, especially for raw ingredients such as oil)
gets lower over time, as more efficient ways to make and/or use the
products are discovered.  (For instance, if oil gets 1.2 times as expensive
but cars get twice the MPG, then it net costs less to drive a certain
distance.)


> Mining has ceased last century, as the richer ore veins have been
> exhausted.


"Ceased" is a strong word.  It doesn't mean "in decline", it means
"completely stopped".  If mining ceased no later than 2000 (depending on
where you put the century mark), then what's with all the active,
productive mines today in 2013?

And, of course, there's the potential for asteroid mining.  It hasn't
started yet, and there's quite a bit to do, but the amount of energy needed
to get it seriously productive seems to be within current reserves - so
long as that effort is started soon enough, of course.
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