[ExI] Abundance Economy

[Adrian Tymes]

So if the traditional method of increasing population is petering out,
what's the path to substantial numbers of artificially-gestated,
state-raised kids?

On Mon, Jan 20, 2025, 5:31 AM Kelly Anderson via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> I personally doubt there will ever be more than ten billion humans on
> earth. We're very close to peak population now. Only in Africa are we
> still growing in numbers, and I can't see how that will last long.
> There's just something about being in a city that stops people from
> wanting to have babies, and more and more people have moved to cities.
> So yes, I think we can have abundance, even if we can't each have 50
> acres...
>
> -Kelly
>
> On Thu, Jan 9, 2025 at 1:59 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> >
> > 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
> >
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