[ExI] Abundance Economy

[Ben Zaiboc]

Long ago, in a galaxy... well, quite a while ago, anyway, spike said:

 > The economy of abundance doesn't apply to some things, such as raw 
materials, energy and land.  Regardless of how easily we can manufacture 
anything we want, there are fixed quantities of some things.


These things are limited in absolute terms, true, but does that mean an 
abundance economy isn't possible?
Absolute limits and apparent (or practical) limits aren't the same thing.

I've remarked before that 'resources' aren't fixed in quantity, despite 
what many sustainomaniacs would have us believe. People usually fail to 
factor in the level of technology available. Technology and Resources 
are intimately linked. The higher your level of technology, the more 
resources are available to you. We're no longer limited by the amount of 
coal we can mine, because we discovered oil. Now we are finding ways to 
do without oil. When we learn to turn carbon, silicon, aluminium, etc., 
into just about anything we want, people will laugh at the idea of 
limited raw materials. We will never run out of those things as long as 
we remain on the earth.

Energy is almost unlimited, given the right technology to harvest it.

Available land, in the distant past, was a tiny fraction of what it is 
now (because we have more than just animal skins and wood fires to keep 
us warm, etc.). When you consider that we could put every single person 
on the planet on Madagascar, with room left over, you realise just how 
much liveable space the earth has (without even considering the seas).

Obviously, we don't yet have the technology to realise an abundance 
economy, but I don't think we're far off it. Robotics and AI are 
advancing in leaps and bounds, Nanotech research is happening all over 
the world, in the background. One day nanotech will be a big thing.

I think the biggest obstacle to an abundance economy will be human 
psychology (mostly manifested as politics and resistance from big 
business (which are just about the same thing, these days), as well as 
authoritarian states that want to keep strict control of their 
subjects), not land, energy or raw materials.

-- 
Ben