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flaming_dortos OP t1_j46b7yg wrote

I like the concept but how would it be done in practice

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HeinrichTheWolf_17 t1_j46c6xb wrote

Well, UBI will be a necessity, but not all countries will pass that when needed.

My other solution, is to open source as much as humanly possible, combine that with high levels of automation, so the result here is to create a zero marginal cost system, basically, when the abundance of goods rises, the value of those goods goes down, this is because competitors want to churn a profit at the lowest possible price point to produce the consumed goods. This will lead to goods that Humans need to survive (Food, Water and Shelter) at an extremely low price point. So cutting production costs is a good thing overall.

So Capitalism will still exist during the transition, but will be obsolete as an end result, eventually, there’s going to be so much abundance that money will be superfluous, anyone will be able to make goods+content at a net zero cost point. Of course, countries with UBI will get to this result much much faster, but third world countries will catch up not too much later.

We’re going to see this happen with Media first, we will be able to create anything we want without AAA Game or Film Studios having all the control, AI Art is just a little step. Indie content will thrive. This will happen with physical products next.

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flyblackbox t1_j49owpf wrote

How will it happen with physical goods? And what time frame?

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HeinrichTheWolf_17 t1_j49q4d0 wrote

I think for a true post scarcity system with physical goods it’ll at least require Hard Nanotechnology. As for time frame, definitely post AGI, I would say at least before this century closes, but again, developed nations will probably get there sooner.

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ghost_of_drusepth t1_j47yedv wrote

UBI (giving people money to buy things) is a good step, but it's not enough in the current economic system unless we also start systematically lowering costs and eventually making items free. Just giving people money doesn't do away with the need for money (and, in fact, just ends up transitioning ones reliance on a job toward a reliance on a government subsidy instead). Even if universal prices don't rise to mirror any implemented UBI (which I doubt), limiting what people can have by the amount of money they have will always result in people wanting more money to have more things.

In order to completely do away with the pursuit of the accumulation of money, there'd have to be no reason to have money. Ergo, everything would be free or available as needed. In order for that to happen, we need a post-scarcity society where there are enough resources for everyone to have whatever they want and can do away with our money-based filtering system that decides who gets what.

AI is a powerful tool to get to such a society by automating our jobs away and producing goods at a lower cost compared to human labor, which allows companies to race to the bottom on costs.

AI is not another mouth to feed.

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