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What doesn't get brought up enough in these discussions is the degree to which the advances in AI and resource distribution bring down costs and increase the ac

What doesn't get brought up enough in these discussions is the degree to which the advances in AI and resource distribution bring down costs and increase the accessibility of having your needs met. For example, as Uber has advanced to UberX and now UberPool, the possibility of being car-free is much more feasible and potentially cheaper than ownership. So the labor hours required to own a car are cut out as a need for those workers. Similarly, craigslist, AirBNB etc. are impacting the renting vs. buying scenario and reducing costs in those areas. Will this increase in accessibility happen at the same rate of labor loss? Probably not and there will be some turbulence, but I think the net result will be a realization of excess in western culture and an adjustment to more reasonable standards of living. Sure, there will be 'above the api' haves, but there is reason to believe the accessibility of meeting basic needs will scale up as a long term net result after short/mid term turbulence.

lucaspiller 12y ago
> Similarly, craigslist, AirBNB etc. are impacting the renting vs. buying scenario and reducing costs in those areas. If anything AirBnB has caused the price of property to go up. Where I live you could easily make enough to cover rent or a mortgage from letting a property on AirBnB for one or two weekends a month. The rest of the time it is empty, which means the demand for housing in the local area is higher, which means rents go up. In my 200 unit building I think around 5% of the properties are vacation rentals. Really AirBnB isn't much different to holiday homes / timeshares, but what they have done is bring it to the masses. It will be interesting if / when they introduce surge pricing to combat this - right now the control is still with landlords, but eventually they'll just be another pawn in the game.

lucaspiller 12y ago

> Similarly, craigslist, AirBNB etc. are impacting the renting vs. buying scenario and reducing costs in those areas. If anything AirBnB has caused the price of property to go up. Where I live you could easily make enough to cover rent or a mortgage from letting a property on AirBnB for one or two weekends a month. The rest of the time it is empty, which means the demand for housing in the local area is higher, which means rents go up. In my 200 unit building I think around 5% of the properties are vacation rentals. Really AirBnB isn't much different to holiday homes / timeshares, but what they have done is bring it to the masses. It will be interesting if / when they introduce surge pricing to combat this - right now the control is still with landlords, but eventually they'll just be another pawn in the game.