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TheTomatoBoy9 t1_j2ebapo wrote

Reply to comment by 1810v in Game Theory of UBI by shmoculus

Fundamentally, things will never become cheaper than the cost of the energy it takes to make them, even with full automation

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Surur t1_j2ew06z wrote

With solar energy, prices often go negative and some companies get paid to use energy.

There is an idea that we would create 7x as much solar capacity as we need, for reliability reasons, and then have massive amounts of waste energy on many days.

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1810v t1_j2ecl1d wrote

With the potential for fusion energy, this could radically change the cost of energy in the next few decades.

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TheTomatoBoy9 t1_j2eefax wrote

True enough. But even if (or when) it becomes economically viable, it will take decades to implement it at scale. So what happens during this transition?

An ideal scenario would be easily accessible energy through fusion, and then the AI replacement. But for now it looks like the reverse scenario is happening. Which I'm not too optimistic about.

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xt-89 t1_j2ezvam wrote

There’s also renewables. When the entire supply chain for wind mills or solar panels become fully automated, energy prices will quickly trend to zero without any new technology beyond AI. Even if you are concerned about rare earth minerals there’s undersea mining that would become more reasonable at that point in time

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enilea t1_j2fgf37 wrote

I doubt fusion will become an option that soon. Maybe a few decades to make it a viable source of energy, but then a few more decades for widespread implementation. So not soon enough before most jobs have been automated.

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