Difference between revisions of "Post-scarcity/Intro"
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| − | [[Image:Cornucopia.jpg|right| | + | [[Image:Cornucopia.jpg|right|180px|Cornucopia (the horn of plenty)]] The '''post-scarcity age''' is an anticipated period where due to advancing technology, efficient use of natural resources and co-operation there should exist a great abundance of the material items that everyone needs, achieved with a minimal impact to the environment. |
Post-scarcity has already happened for information. Information is given away freely, there is a vast public pool of it from which all of humanity can drink deeply until they're satisfied without ever fearing that they will deplete it. It is one of the themes of this wiki to investigate how to extend this abundance to all the needs of Man. | Post-scarcity has already happened for information. Information is given away freely, there is a vast public pool of it from which all of humanity can drink deeply until they're satisfied without ever fearing that they will deplete it. It is one of the themes of this wiki to investigate how to extend this abundance to all the needs of Man. | ||
Revision as of 12:39, 18 July 2010
Post-scarcity has already happened for information. Information is given away freely, there is a vast public pool of it from which all of humanity can drink deeply until they're satisfied without ever fearing that they will deplete it. It is one of the themes of this wiki to investigate how to extend this abundance to all the needs of Man.
Many fictional visions of post scarcity involve as yet undeveloped technologies but the reality is that global material abundance can be produced with current technologies. Food is one example, where there is more than enough produced for everyone on the planet [1], but politics, economics and logistics prevent a more egalitarian distribution. The bottom line is that in the fundamental resources of this planet there exists many orders of magnitude more energy, raw material and biological resources than humanity requires, it is a matter of developing systems that use and distribute them more efficiently.
By employing open collaborative design and advanced automation in combination, everything we need should be trivial to fabricate and distribute — from the basics like clean water, good quality food, medicine and suitable housing, to increasingly essential material goods such as vehicles, computers and mobile phones – all the way up to purely luxury items. Decentralizing production of these things will also allow more equal access to them and sidestep many of the issues involved in distributing them. These methods could overcome nearly all significant scarcity that persists due to the economic framework we have inherited from previous eras. This isn't to say what is proposed here will happen, but that it could happen – it is feasible from a physical and technological viewpoint. It is a matter of spreading the knowledge that these things are possible and enough people choosing to work towards it.
