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We're already at that point though, at least in the developed world. Everyone's fed, clothed and housed even if they earn no money. But people still want money!
by EnigmaFlare 3y ago
We're already at that point though, at least in the developed world. Everyone's fed, clothed and housed even if they earn no money. But people still want money! They want more than the minimum. If we all have those yachts and personal factories, that'll be the default for unemployed people and everyone will still want money for whatever the poorest still can't afford, which I guess might be paying other people to do things, just like it currently is.
If humans really do become completely redundant, then maybe we've reached the end state of humanity and might as well just die out.
- ben_w 3y agoOver-consumption is a one-way implication with unbounded desire, not a two-way implication. We're fed to the point we have obesity, but most of us still stop eating at a certain point. We're oversupplied with material goods to the point that storage lockers for excess stuff is a big industry, but most of us don't hoard to that degree, and it's weird when we see people who do. We're oversupplied with light to the point that we've got to remind ourselves to turn them down at night, but we do turn them off. We do reach saturation points with these things, despite over-consumption.
- EnigmaFlare 3y agoSure. And we're over-supplied with breathing air to the point that nobody bothers to store it in bottles for a low-air day. I don't think we can reach saturation supply of everything we might possibly want because we're naturally competitive, explorative and status-seeking and will just invent new things to want, even if they're zero sum. Those things will probably be able to be bought with money.