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They're expensive because they're inefficient. To accomplish them efficiently is ambitious and elegant without a doubt. A startup that can chip away at what ma
by TheCowboy 15y ago
They're expensive because they're inefficient. To accomplish them efficiently is ambitious and elegant without a doubt.
A startup that can chip away at what makes these things so inefficient is going in the right direction. Looking for inefficiencies, such as with present day email, is a good way to find a direction.
Economics is still at its heart the study of the problem of scarcity. Economies, and all economic activity, attempt to alleviate or manage that problem.
- nl 15y agoYes, I agree with that. SpaceX etc are doing well at the "chip away" strategy. I also agree that a cheap lunar base would be a wonderfully ambitious project!
- telent 15y agoThis is a nit pick, but much economic activity these days is nothing to do with alleviating scarcity and everything to do with introducing artificial scarcity where it didn't previously exist. See e.g. Intellectual property.
- nl 15y agoEconomics != economic activity (at least in the context you are using it). TheCowboy is right: Economics is still at its heart the study of the problem of scarcity.
- telent 15y agoI said it was a nitpick, but the post to which I responded did say "all economic activity". Does it even matter? It matters if it means our fully automated jobless future is penury and starvation instead of the post-scarcity Culture we're looking forward to.