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Post-scarcity can't really happen on a very finite planet with a huge and growing population.

Even if we had fully-automated systems providing plentify food and water, we'd need some ssytem, likely capitalism, to distribute still-scarce luxuries (e.g. beachfront property)

And if we had total post-scarcity (effectively infinite energy and Star Trek style energy-to-matter replicators), we'd just be fighting over scarce land as everyone fills up all the space with replicated junk.




Post-scarcity just means the rate of use is less than the rate of renewal for all used resources. In a sense, hunter-gatherers were "post-scarcity." The challenge is supporting our modern quality of life at our scale of population. I think enormous strides would need to be made (fusion energy + matter synthesis, ie Star Trek replicators) in order to achieve post-scarcity on a long enough timeline without changing any of the other parameters.


Well, not just that. Not everyone can have a house on the beach. How do you allocate that resource?


Ehhh, that one's self-regulating. Have you seen what happens to houses next to the beach? They disintegrate at alarming rates. Maintenance is a nightmare.

That said, removed from market forces, there a lot of ways to allocate housing, such as some form of segmented lottery or waitlist.


Maintenance isn't a nightmare in a post-scarcity world.


Good point.




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