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That idea is incompatible with all mainstream economic science. Economies are not closed systems, wealth can be created and destroyed. This is, for example, w

That idea is incompatible with all mainstream economic science. Economies are not closed systems, wealth can be created and destroyed. This is, for example, why industrialization led to wealthier societies. The productivity gains created more wealth per person. Likewise, you can bomb a city and a lot of wealth will be destroyed. What you all are discussing is specifically the jobs market, which is a much more narrow issue. The biggest problem with employment is matching worker skill to the available jobs.

layer8 2y ago
I didn’t mean to imply that there is a conservation of wealth. I meant that there is no exchange with participants outside of the population of Earth; and at any given time, if you want people to be able to spend x, they must also be able to earn x. And if you have an economy that works with a population of n, then in principle the same should be possible with a population of (say) 2n, because you can just imagine having the first one twice independently side-by-side. The only hard limit is when you exceed Earth’s resources, hence overpopulation. But we’re not there yet, and according to projections we also won’t reach it this century. The reason for our present difficulties is not that there are too many people.
- tossandthrow 2y ago
  It would seems like you are both right. Money does not, however, measure wealth. Satisfaction of needs does. That is where industrialization came in. And that might also be why we will see a stagnation of wealth. There are not many needs that need to be solved (from a commodity point of view). Current needs are more of a social and spiritual nature, and the markets are not efficient at providing to these.
- api_or_ipa 2y ago
  > But we’re not there yet, and according to projections we also won’t reach it this century The best projections we have say our population will likely inflect downwards by the end of this century. In other words, we probably won’t even reach overpopulation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_growth https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_gr...
  - layer8 2y ago
    We don’t know what will happen over the following centuries, so I wouldn’t make any predictions beyond the current one.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
Log_out_ 2y ago
Thermodynamics is the enemy of all "economic$cience". There can only be peace if the physicsdepartment, the messenger of reality, is brought down in armed struggle.

layer8 2y ago

I didn’t mean to imply that there is a conservation of wealth. I meant that there is no exchange with participants outside of the population of Earth; and at any given time, if you want people to be able to spend x, they must also be able to earn x. And if you have an economy that works with a population of n, then in principle the same should be possible with a population of (say) 2n, because you can just imagine having the first one twice independently side-by-side. The only hard limit is when you exceed Earth’s resources, hence overpopulation. But we’re not there yet, and according to projections we also won’t reach it this century. The reason for our present difficulties is not that there are too many people.

tossandthrow 2y ago
It would seems like you are both right. Money does not, however, measure wealth. Satisfaction of needs does. That is where industrialization came in. And that might also be why we will see a stagnation of wealth. There are not many needs that need to be solved (from a commodity point of view). Current needs are more of a social and spiritual nature, and the markets are not efficient at providing to these.
api_or_ipa 2y ago
> But we’re not there yet, and according to projections we also won’t reach it this century The best projections we have say our population will likely inflect downwards by the end of this century. In other words, we probably won’t even reach overpopulation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_growth https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projections_of_population_gr...
- layer8 2y ago
  We don’t know what will happen over the following centuries, so I wouldn’t make any predictions beyond the current one.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

Log_out_ 2y ago

Thermodynamics is the enemy of all "economic$cience". There can only be peace if the physicsdepartment, the messenger of reality, is brought down in armed struggle.