3 ms·

If we completely automate food production and house construction perhaps they'll become cheap enough that it doesn't matter

• barry-cotter 7y ago
  Food production is already plenty cheap in the developed world. In the 50s in the US middle class people still worried about the price of milk and butter and the working class did not have the option of eating out for every meal. Even Mexico, a middle income country, has an obesity problem rather than a malnutrition one. In areas with high demand the constraint on building housing is zoning, not cost of construction. You can build in masonry up to eight stories high as long as you have elevators. With steel frame much higher obviously. Everywhere the cost of housing is substantially above construction plus land costs the reason is zoning.
  • flukus 7y ago
    > Food production is already plenty cheap in the developed world. Even a lot of that is hugely inflated at the various steps to get to the consumer, in developing countries basic staples can be astonishingly cheap by western standards. Even semi-developed India you can have a decent diet for roughly $4USD a day: https://www.numbeo.com/food-prices/country_result.jsp?country=India https://www.numbeo.com/food-prices/country_result.jsp?countr...
    • abdullahkhalids 7y ago
      Definitely for far less. In one of the most expensive private universities in Pakistan, in the cafeteria you can eat three "home-cooked meals" for $4USD/day. I.e. on top of the ingredients you are paying for cooking/cleaning labor and space. You can eat for maybe half that at home.