57 replies to this topic

[Mind]

Geoffrey Hinton has concluded the same that I have - that if AI continues on its current path - most people will end up poorer (not in an era of radical abundance).

 

I suspect the tech billionaires will change the framing to deflect form the fact that they are getting rich while not producing "radical abundance for all". They will claim there is "radical mobility" to deflect from the fact that normal people will no longer be able to own their own cars, but rather have to rent and share vehicles. Mobility-as-a-service will drain the meager wages of most people.

 

 

[adamh]

Contrary to your statements, things are not getting more expensive, they are getting cheaper and better. What you always overlook, even though I point it out frequently, is that adjusted for inflation, prices are lower in most cases than ever before.

 

A good example is computers. Today you can get a computer that is 1000 times faster and has 1000 times the memory and storage as you could buy 30 years ago yet it is about the same amount in dollars which means its 1000 times better yet cheaper. These are facts and moaning that nothing is abundant does not change the facts. You will ignore that or say "I don't care about computers" but the same is true of tv's, phones and many other things. 

 

The average car 30 years ago did not have cruise control, radar, collision avoidance, or navigation. According to you, things are getting worse

 

The average person of today has more luxuries than a rich person had 100 years ago.

[Mind]

Contrary to your statements, things are not getting more expensive, they are getting cheaper and better. What you always overlook, even though I point it out frequently, is that adjusted for inflation, prices are lower in most cases than ever before.

 

A good example is computers. Today you can get a computer that is 1000 times faster and has 1000 times the memory and storage as you could buy 30 years ago yet it is about the same amount in dollars which means its 1000 times better yet cheaper. These are facts and moaning that nothing is abundant does not change the facts. You will ignore that or say "I don't care about computers" but the same is true of tv's, phones and many other things. 

 

The average car 30 years ago did not have cruise control, radar, collision avoidance, or navigation. According to you, things are getting worse

 

The average person of today has more luxuries than a rich person had 100 years ago.

 

The point is that the average person CANNOT afford a new computer (because they have to spend their discretionary wages on a phone, probably). They cannot afford a new car. If most people cannot afford the products, and they don't have them, then they are not experiencing "radical abundance". It is only "abundance" for the wealthy.

 

It doesn't matter if the price of a new car went down to $10,000 or $1,000, if the people cannot afford to buy them - that is not radical abundance. Our grandparents COULD afford a new car (even 2 new cars), a second vacation home, new appliances, a boat, a nice house, good health care, etc... The average person nowadays cannot even dream about owning all of those things.

[adamh]

"The point is that the average person CANNOT afford a new computer"

 

Really? you can buy a computer now days for as little as $300 or $400 and if thats too much, there are used computers for less. The smartphone is a computer that most people have. The average household has a computer, a phone, ac and many other things

 

Who was it that promised you "radical abundance" that you yearn for? No one told me I would get everything free or super cheap one day, who was it that told you that? AI and robotics have the promise of a great economic boom but no one said it would come in a couple years or less. The industrial revolution brought a much higher standard of living that you can't deny but it didn't happen overnight. It took decades to filter through the economy.

 

Modern day luddites want to take us back to primitive times and reject any advancements. Today they are against AI, a while back they were against the assembly line and automation. When the computer came out, they moaned about losing jobs, said the computer will take over. You were probably saying the same things. Now its AI and robotics that will take our jobs. When we perfect fusion energy you will gripe about that, no doubt.

 

You moan about a broken promise some mysterious person allegedly made to you. Tell us who told you those things?

You moan about a broken promise some mysterious person allegedly made to you

[Mind]

 

 

Who was it that promised you "radical abundance" that you yearn for?

 

Pretty much every tech billionaire has promised "radical abundance" (for many years now). I have already provided examples. Ray Kurzweil is famous for predicting abundance. Here is another example from Demis Hassabis where he explicitly states that there will be "radical abundance".

Edited by Mind, 06 October 2025 - 02:33 PM.

[Mind]

AI is making a lot of previously wealthy people even more obscenely wealthy, while the vast majority of people are falling behind and can't even afford basic groceries.

 

The "American Dream" is out of reach for most young people.

 

Where is the abundance?

[Mind]

The average new car price in the US is now over $50,000.

 

The tech billionaires who keep saying that "everything will be cheap or free in an era of radical abundance - arriving any day now" would probably say - but look at all of the great new features that are in/on a new car nowadays!

 

They could care less if 95% percent of the population can't really afford the new car - "it is still an awesome car! A sign of abundance!" 60 years ago our grandparents could easily afford a new car (and the "American Dream") on a single income/job. Now young people can't touch the "American Dream" that was available to our grandparents.

 

Why is this the case? We have had enormous gains in productivity and efficiency over the last 60 years, yet the "American Dream" is not remotely affordable, or cheap, or abundant. The reason is that the companies and tech-billionaires are not really interested in making things cheap/abundant/free for the general population (out of the good of their hearts). They are interested in profits and power. That is all. They will find ways to squeeze every last dollar out of you rather than produce radical abundance for "the good of the world".

 

Why is Blackrock trying to "commoditize" nature? Because they are running out of places to productively deploy their trillions of dollars and make mega profits. So - they are planning to take "nature" from you and charge you for access. They could invest in "radical abundance" and make the "American Dream" cheap for everyone, but then they would not be making huge profits..

 

 

[adamh]

So it was some billionaires who told you this "radical abundance" was coming, and you interpreted that to mean everything would be super cheap or free. That is not what the word means, abundant simply means there is a lot of something present. Problems could be abundant. All the things you complain about not being abundant certainly are, from cars to food to insurance and millions of products. What you want is freebies and cheap stuff. This whole thread is just a continuation of your rant against AI which you have been on about for some time now. Since your predictions of disaster seem to not be working out, you pivot to complaining that the benefits of it have not materialized as promised

 

The automobile transformed society the world over. The benefits of it did not come overnight, as you seem to demand, they came after many years of integration. The internal combustion engine was present in the 1800's and crude versions were built before that. But it was a toy for the rich until ford made cars cheaper. Now people could get fresh vegetables in winter because trucks went coast to coast in much shorter time than the horse drawn wagon of bygone days. Here you are squeaking that just a few years after AI raised its head, we don't have everything super efficient and cheap. Tell me one time in history when something new like that developed all its potential that quickly? It never happens, inventions take time to become integrated and fully utilized

 

I think that $50k figure you bandy about is based in large part on averaging luxury cars with cheaper cars. You can get a prius for 20 something and it will get 50 miles per gallon and have all the modern gadgets like radar, collision avoidance, navigation, you just input the address and it takes you there. Did your grandparents have that?  Plus all the standard things that used to be luxuries like abs, power steering, ac, etc. Other cars are cheaper yet             

 

You seem to think the average person is poor. A poor person today has more luxuries than the middle class in some countries. It is simple to get ahead, I will even tell you. Many people think the most important thing is to have a big salary. That is certainly good but its only half or less of the puzzle. Its even more important to save and to invest. Anyone can do it, the grocery store presents investment opportunities. When something is on bogo that you buy every week, most people buy the usual amount and save a little dough. I used to buy a couple months worth if I had room to store it. By then, it may be on sale again so I always paid a discounted price.

 

A farmer or someone in the countryside might put up a chicken coop. There is an investment of time and labor, the payoff is fresh eggs and chicken dinners. Might even sell some. For their investment, they get a return every month. Someone may have a detached garage and convert it into an efficiency to rent out. Or might buy a house and rent it, which pays for itself and expenses plus the property could appreciate in value. Not all investments have to be the stock market or a bar of gold. This will not make you wealthy overnight, as you may be wishing for, but over time its been proven to work over and over.

 

The present economic system is far from perfect but its also far from the dystopian nightmare you seem to see. AI is already making advances in drug selection, for example. It is good at doing a long series of tests or analyses and can predict areas to research. It will take time to roll out all the benefits, same as with all other technologies. The computer was an overly expensive piece of lab equipment at one time and now is indispensable and not so expensive. The assembly line made goods cheaper that once were all hand made but that too took years to shake out. Why on earth would you expect instant nirvana from a brand new tech?

[mag1]

I think the confusion is arising from abundance being defined in terms of material abundance and in positional goods. This is not the abundance that has been most prominent in the technology era. Radical abundance moves to the forefront when you start to speak of technologies like robobuggies, autonomous drive, LLMs, etc.. It then is quite startling. i have been able to chat with highly intelligent LLMs for hours at a time for free. For me this is radical abundance. Modern technology has created a range of such products that have close to virtual cost, yet can produce a great deal of value for consumers. However, when you think more in terms a bushel of corn etc. such abundance is not as clear -- physical world products are constrained by teh same laws of economics as always.

Edited by mag1, 21 October 2025 - 11:33 PM.

[Mind]

I think the confusion is arising from abundance being defined in terms of material abundance and in positional goods. This is not the abundance that has been most prominent in the technology era. Radical abundance moves to the forefront when you start to speak of technologies like robobuggies, autonomous drive, LLMs, etc.. It then is quite startling. i have been able to chat with highly intelligent LLMs for hours at a time for free. For me this is radical abundance. Modern technology has created a range of such products that have close to virtual cost, yet can produce a great deal of value for consumers. However, when you think more in terms a bushel of corn etc. such abundance is not as clear -- physical world products are constrained by teh same laws of economics as always.

 

There is no confusion. The techo-optimist billionaires have explicitly stated that there will be material abundance - that everything will be "cheap or free".

 

It isn't happening, therefore, they should stop saying that.

 

I can predict "digital" abundance. I can predict an abundance of porn and crappy AI entertainment. That is easy and obvious. OpenAI has recently moved into the arena of porn. Why? because they want to make money. Creating material abundance is hard. Making money from porn is easy.

[adamh]

mag1 wrote:

 

"Modern technology has created a range of such products that have close to virtual cost, yet can produce a great deal of value for consumers. However, when you think more in terms a bushel of corn etc. such abundance is not as clear -- physical world products are constrained by teh same laws of economics as always."

 

Modern technology and new time and money saving devices are all over the place. I've tried to highlight some of the many advances that we enjoy today. You get it, but some people do not. As for food and other items costing money, that's the way its always been. Even before there was money you had to have something to trade for what you wanted.

 

Today we are spared the back breaking work done by previous generations. No drawing water from a well or a creek, no more pulling weeds and putting up fences to grow your food, we turn on a tap or get if from the local grocer. Travel used to be a privilege owned by the rich and powerful. The average person moving to another state was a major operation and overseas was just out of the question. Today, most people have traveled even internationally, its no big thing anymore. 

 

mind:

 

"There is no confusion. The techo-optimist billionaires have explicitly stated that there will be material abundance - that everything will be "cheap or free".

 

It isn't happening, therefore, they should stop saying that."

 

I have looked over your quotes but I have not found anyone saying that everything will be free. Even if someone had said something close to that, it means nothing. The fact is that things have not only become better and more useful, they are cheaper as well. You complain that the promises were not met, go to the ones who allegedly told you that and squawk.

 

I should complain that we don't have bases on the moon and haven't traveled outside the solar system since all those things were predicted in science fiction long ago. Where is the flying car I was promised? You usually come back with some sort of newish point or argument but this time you just grumbled a little more like you have run out of gas on that topic

[Heisok]

Do you rellay think that these changes are from the 2000's? 1950's 60's 70's ....... earlier? Food, utilities rent?

 

Today we are spared the back breaking work done by previous generations. No drawing water from a well or a creek, no more pulling weeds and putting up fences to grow your food, we turn on a tap or get if from the local grocer. Travel used to be a privilege owned by the rich and powerful. The average person moving to another state was a major operation and overseas was just out of the question. Today, most people have traveled even internationally, its no big thing anymore. 

 

 

https://www.bls.gov/...ase/cpi.nr0.htm

 

https://www.newsweek...rise-us-2127390

Edited by Mind, 23 October 2025 - 03:48 PM.

[mag1]

Big news today is that an unconfirmed report is claiming 9 IQ point uplift in embryo selection. 

So, basically human civilization might implode in about 10 years.

 

Abundance and psychometric disruption incoming.

Edited by mag1, 23 October 2025 - 02:59 AM.

[mag1]

I care for riches, to make gifts to friends, or lead a sick man back to health with ease and plenty.

Else small aid is wealth for daily gladness; once a man be done with hunger, rich and poor are all as one.

Euripedes

 

Material comfort while present as noted my others is perhaps not as dramatically realized as is the technological radical abundance that we see. 

It is astonishing. We have genius level LLMs that you can chat with without limit and without charge; emerging medical technologies such as mabs for

Alhzeimer's, Neuralink, genome sequencing, forums such as these, potentially digital humans that might approach human level friendships.

 

I feel so blessed by the cornucopia that I feel all around me -- It truly feels like an overflowing abundance.

Abundance is a state of mind -- some might never be able to perceive it no matter how immersive the abundance.

Some people have a deeply entrenched poverty mentality. All they can see is famine and disease. It really does not  

matter to them how much there is -- All they can ever see is how little there is.

 

Strangely, even though I perceive radical abundance, I actually live a quite minimal material existence. 

My annual marginal cost is perhaps $10,000 per year (or less).

If I were to go out into the woods and live an even less consumerist life, then I might be able to move it down to $5000 and would probably be even happier than I already am.

 

I suspect some might want to send me some sort of demogrant as they might feel that I were somehow materially deprived, even while I deeply feel blessed with so much 

radical abundance in the things that I care about like ideas and the general background of medical development.

 

Edited by mag1, 24 October 2025 - 12:03 AM.

[Mind]

The "American Dream" is out of reach for the latest generation. Material wealth has not developed. There are plenty of fancy gadgets to buy. A lot of social media to consume. Good organic food? Not so much.

 

 

Over 20 years from 2005 to 2025, the cost of all essentials has soared:

• Housing (rent) is up 120 percent.

• Transportation is up 86 percent.

• Education is up 133 percent.

• Groceries are up 79 percent.

• Entertainment is up 100 percent.

• Utilities are up 53 percent.

• Time to save for house down payment has gone from 8 to 14 years.

• The average student debt burden has moved from $20K to $30K.

• The real increase in salaries is 12 percent.

• Health insurance these days is a killer of living standards, averaging $27,000 from the business side and that’s without using it.

• Housing ownership seems largely out of the question.

 

Some of the tech-billionaires who keep predicting a spectacular abundant future also say it is better to not own anything - because then you will be free of any burdens that tie you down in one place. Of course, this model of the "renter/subscription economy" is really good for their profits, while not so good for the average person on the street.

[Heisok]

Food around 18% since January 2022

 

 

https://www.cbsnews..../price-tracker/

 

 

 

 

Edited by Heisok, 25 October 2025 - 06:37 PM.

[Mind]

Peter Diamandis can fly around the world any time he pleases. He is obscenely wealthy. His world is "abundant" because he can afford anything he desires. He lives in a bubble. He cannot see that most of the world is struggling to afford the basics of a "middle class" life.

[mag1]

Mind all of your examples are about materialism. All things from the bricks and mortar world. It is not that easy to make them radically abundant.

 

You start with housing. Why can we now house everyone? Why are there homeless people? You can buy a tiny home online for $20,000!

But it is never that simple. It is not simply that people are poor. You could just give poor people a $20,000 tiny house problem solved.

 

So you have people who are poor and schizophrenic. Ok, if they are stable on meds, then give them a house.

 

OK, we have poor schizophrenic people who are also drug addicted. At a certain point you just give up. 

Making housing is then not the problem, it is this complex sociomedical dysfunction that does not have an easy answer.

For those who do not have all of those problems housing simply becomes a positional good where the object is not to make it affordable, but

drive up its value skyward. 

 

Transport is more about the free market and yet government has found it to be a convenient revenue source to tax climate change.

 

Education here means bricks and mortar.  When you move over to online there can be large cost savings. As soon as you can sidestep the limits of

the physical world radical abundance appears.

 

I think it would be very helpful if you could start to think more in terms of the emerging tech and the abundance that is clearly happening. 

Perhaps the most noticeable breakout for 2025 is autonomous transport. We are now seeing wide scale rollout. It is stunning! This could be the beginning

of the end of traffic fatalities and serious injuries. When you remove very irrational humans with AI you start to see vastly reduced accidents. How is that

not abundance? "Safety" might not be a commodity but it is something that people greatly value. This value will be given to others almost for free.

 

Do not forget LLMs. 2025 has also been the breakout year for LLMs. I have been on them this year almost all the time. It is hard to be on the forum when there

is so much great chatting with AI.

 

For next year it looks like humanoids might be ready to roll! There is so much abundance! Just look for it! 

[Mind]

Mind all of your examples are about materialism. All things from the bricks and mortar world. It is not that easy to make them radically abundant.

 

You start with housing. Why can we now house everyone? Why are there homeless people? You can buy a tiny home online for $20,000!

But it is never that simple. It is not simply that people are poor. You could just give poor people a $20,000 tiny house problem solved.

 

So you have people who are poor and schizophrenic. Ok, if they are stable on meds, then give them a house.

 

OK, we have poor schizophrenic people who are also drug addicted. At a certain point you just give up. 

Making housing is then not the problem, it is this complex sociomedical dysfunction that does not have an easy answer.

For those who do not have all of those problems housing simply becomes a positional good where the object is not to make it affordable, but

drive up its value skyward. 

 

Transport is more about the free market and yet government has found it to be a convenient revenue source to tax climate change.

 

Education here means bricks and mortar.  When you move over to online there can be large cost savings. As soon as you can sidestep the limits of

the physical world radical abundance appears.

 

I think it would be very helpful if you could start to think more in terms of the emerging tech and the abundance that is clearly happening. 

Perhaps the most noticeable breakout for 2025 is autonomous transport. We are now seeing wide scale rollout. It is stunning! This could be the beginning

of the end of traffic fatalities and serious injuries. When you remove very irrational humans with AI you start to see vastly reduced accidents. How is that

not abundance? "Safety" might not be a commodity but it is something that people greatly value. This value will be given to others almost for free.

 

Do not forget LLMs. 2025 has also been the breakout year for LLMs. I have been on them this year almost all the time. It is hard to be on the forum when there

is so much great chatting with AI.

 

For next year it looks like humanoids might be ready to roll! There is so much abundance! Just look for it! 

 

I am well aware that brick and mortar (material) stuff is hard to make radically abundant. Everyone knows this - except the tech-billionaires who keep predicting radical abundance of everything. I don't need a lot of material wealth to be happy. I am fine right now. However, it is annoying that the tech-billionaires keep predicting radical abundance for everyone, when most people are struggling.

 

One thing that I would like is to be able to travel more, however, hotel costs are higher than ever and low-cost hotels are struggling. In contrast, luxury hotels that cater to the ultra-rich are doing really well. No surprise there. This will continue into the future as far as I can tell. The tech-billionaires will continue to experience "abundance" while the rest of the world struggles to afford material goods.

[adamh]

Mag1 wrote:

 

>For next year it looks like humanoids might be ready to roll! There is so much abundance! Just look for it!

 

Yes, the robots are rolling out, I saw an ad that said china had bots for around $1,400 said to be able to do repetitive work such as factory work. I don't know about the quality, that is always china's weak point. But it shows they are getting very cheap and more capable. It won't be long before they will be housekeepers, cleaners, cooks, and babysitters. Factories too are buying them for simple repetitive tasks. This of course makes goods cheaper, so you have cheaper robots, cheaper products and less need to work.

 

Ah Mind

 

>I am well aware that brick and mortar (material) stuff is hard to make radically abundant. Everyone knows this - except the tech-billionaires who keep predicting radical abundance of everything.

 

But those are the people you constantly quote and look up to. Instead of looking for a fantasy land, try to appreciate the things we already have and the things in the pipeline

 

> I don't need a lot of material wealth to be happy

 

And yet most of your complaints revolve around the cost of things, how it hasn't come down enough and most people can't afford anything

 

Try using some of the wealth building tecs, I mentioned and look at all the possibilities. With robot workers doing all the heavy lifting, man can enjoy a paradise of doing whatever he wants. Govt will redistribute the loot and even todays poor will live in luxury. 

[Mind]

 

 

And yet most of your complaints revolve around the cost of things, how it hasn't come down enough and most people can't afford anything

 

You seem to have missed the point of this discussion. My major complaint is with the predictions of radical abundance that have never come true. I have provided many examples of how this has not come true (which you misconstrued as my "complaints" from my personal life). Sure, it would be nice to be able to travel more or to have affordable organic food in grocery stores, but I am generally fine with what I have.

 

Except for the lack of rejuvenation treatments. I do want to complain about that. We have nothing proven and affordable right now and nothing substantial in the pipeline for the next few years.

 

Considering recent history, it does not look like the predictions of radical abundance for everyone will come true anytime soon, yet the tech billionaires keep saying everyone will get free robots and AI to make the world radically abundant. I am unsure which company is just going to "give away" robots, lol.

[Mind]

How it started: OpenAI is going to create AI for the benefit of the world.

 

How its going: OpenAI is going to make porn and get filthy rich.

[adamh]

Mind wrote:

 

"My major complaint is with the predictions of radical abundance that have never come true."

 

I don't recall anyone saying everything will become free. That is your twist on things

 

" yet the tech billionaires keep saying everyone will get free robots and AI to make the world radically abundant."

 

Can you provide a link of one quote to that effect? Lets assume someone said that, which you have not established. So what? What difference does that make? If a billionaire said you would be president or become rich overnight, would you believe it? Would you be furiously angry that they told you something untrue? If it was merely a millionaire, would you believe it or does it have to be a billionaire, since they always tell the truth and can predict the future?

 

Maybe you can force them to give you stuff for free? First, you have to show thats what they promised, I'm waiting for that part

 

Will you go back to your killer robots predictions? Thousands of people die in car accidents each year but only a handful died as a result of a robot or machine doing something wrong. You should rant against cars, demand they all be eliminated. There you go, your new theme

[mag1]

I am getting increasingly worried about how oblivious people seem to be about what is happening. I can remember in my own life when the grown ups seemed to be checked out of reality and how they did not 

seem to offer any overly helpful ways of adapting to reality as it shitted around in my life. The same lack of contact with reality seems to be repeating -- We have this message of ME ME Me -- I want my luxury goods

from the adults and we are potentially looking forwards into this sheer abyss of socioeconomic upheaval. The kids need some sort of adult guidance and direction of what is important and a strategy to make this transition

into a good thing. I am just not seeing a whole lot of adaptive coping skills being demonstrated by those who should be leading on this.

 

The next year or two could see the emergence of Social Singularity which is to say that even without AI necessarily reaching full AGI we might see humans finally perceive the approaching tidal wave. Social Singularity

is defined by disruptive effects in fertility rates and possibly youth educational choices: It is more anticipatory then necessarily actual. In such a context it will be critically important that adults are on board to help guide 

the tradition and help out the kids. Might be a good time to learn survival skills in a non-urban type environment. Hopefully, there will be some grown up types that will step up here on Longecity. This is not to say Abundance is not also approaching; It just might be a somewhat rough transition as the Me Me Me types adjust to the new reality.

Edited by mag1, 01 November 2025 - 04:22 AM.

[Mind]

"My major complaint is with the predictions of radical abundance that have never come true."

 

I don't recall anyone saying everything will become free. That is your twist on things

 

" yet the tech billionaires keep saying everyone will get free robots and AI to make the world radically abundant."

 

Can you provide a link of one quote to that effect? Lets assume someone said that, which you have not established. So what? What difference does that make? If a billionaire said you would be president or become rich overnight, would you believe it? Would you be furiously angry that they told you something untrue? If it was merely a millionaire, would you believe it or does it have to be a billionaire, since they always tell the truth and can predict the future?

 

Maybe you can force them to give you stuff for free? First, you have to show thats what they promised, I'm waiting for that part

 

Will you go back to your killer robots predictions? Thousands of people die in car accidents each year but only a handful died as a result of a robot or machine doing something wrong. You should rant against cars, demand they all be eliminated. There you go, your new theme

 

 

I have already provided several links (which were apparently ignored) to interviews and posts where tech-billionaires are predicting radical abundance and how everything will be free or so cheap it will be basically free. They say it all the time. How many more links to I need to provide? Lol. Here is the founder of Mechanize AI talking about how AI will take your job but you will still live in a world of radical abundance. Even Nick Bostrom talks about abundance and "post-scarcity society". At least he puts in the caveat "if everything goes well".

 

The tech-billionaires are telling everyone there will be radical abundance. They have been wrong for many years now. Their predictions are not coming true. They are deceiving the world into accepting something that is ruining most people's lives, not improving them. The only things that are cheap are digital things - nothing in the real world that most of the world's population needs to live. You might think it is not worth talking about. That is fine. Other people might want to discuss how radical abundance is not actually happening.

[adamh]

I am getting increasingly worried about how oblivious people seem to be about what is happening. I can remember in my own life when the grown ups seemed to be checked out of reality and how they did not 

seem to offer any overly helpful ways of adapting to reality as it shitted around in my life. The same lack of contact with reality seems to be repeating -- We have this message of ME ME Me -- I want my luxury goods

from the adults and we are potentially looking forwards into this sheer abyss of socioeconomic upheaval. The kids need some sort of adult guidance and direction of what is important and a strategy to make this transition

into a good thing. I am just not seeing a whole lot of adaptive coping skills being demonstrated by those who should be leading on this.

 

Yes, people have become spoiled and demand everything be handed to them just for asking. Many of them refuse to work for what they want, they demand the govt give it away free. Look at how they reacted when ebt was cut off for a month. There are videos all over the place of ebt moochers saying they are going to rob the stores. Most of them were doing that anyway along with the free stuff

 

People just don't realize how much better life has gotten in the last thousand or so years and especially the last 100 or so. For over a million years life was brutal and short consisting of manual labor all day just to get food, water and shelter. Average life expectancy was in the 30's. They had to hunt and gather often traveling over 20 miles a day just to find an animal they can catch or berries or insects to eat. Later came primitive agriculture which meant pulling weeds, building fences, etc all day. Grocery stores had not been invented. To get a drink of water they had to trudge to a stream or pool, often full of bacteria, fill their gourds and then they had a drink. When they found food they had to eat it all immediately because it would spoil. 

 

People now do easy work for 8 hours a day, get weekends off and holidays with pay. Primitive culture was sunup to sundown and they often starved, had no medical care and could die from a scratch or fever. 

 

 

Quote

The next year or two could see the emergence of Social Singularity which is to say that even without AI necessarily reaching full AGI we might see humans finally perceive the approaching tidal wave. Social Singularity

is defined by disruptive effects in fertility rates and possibly youth educational choices: It is more anticipatory then necessarily actual. In such a context it will be critically important that adults are on board to help guide 

the tradition and help out the kids. Might be a good time to learn survival skills in a non-urban type environment. Hopefully, there will be some grown up types that will step up here on Longecity. This is not to say Abundance is not also approaching; It just might be a somewhat rough transition as the Me Me Me types adjust to the new reality.

 

Birth rates have already dropped dramatically across the globe. Only a few african countries have a positive birth rate. That means all caucasions and asians will die out unless the trend is reversed and blacks will become the sole occupants of the planet. Perhaps they will go back to primitive ways?

 

 

 

[mag1]

I am somewhat infamous on LongeCity for over 10 years of posting about the robotransport future.

Robobuggies ... Robobuggies .. Robobuggies.

This has been my great obsession for all of these years.

 

Why?

I just thought it would be a great technology to have and it would allow for a new life experience of technoconvenience.

 

I recently chatted with an LLM about robotransport and it noted that autonomous vehicles could produce $840 billion of annual savings in the US.

There will be greatly reduced car insurance, reduced medical expenses from car accidents and lives lost on the road, reduced pollution as autonomous

cars go electric ... reduced bother from having to shop and having to drive ... There is this enormous amount of benefit from this one simple change.  

Autonomous transport will create massive abundance that can then be used more productively for other goods and services. 

 

After all of these years of waiting for the robotransport future, it is surprising how much I overlooked such abundance until it nearly arrived on our doorstep.

 

Another quite startling abundance that it is bringing is in terms of health. Over the last 50 years and more US leading causes of mortality have hardly budged.

The ordering is now mostly the same as it was decades ago and even many of the rates are quite similar to decades ago. Motor vehicle accidents could be one 

of the most important shifts in causes of mortality for all of these decades. It will be one of the few acute leading causes that potentially cold all but evaporate in

the years ahead. That is such an enormously positive future to look forward to and is yet more of the abundance that is approaching.  

Edited by mag1, Today, 02:13 AM.

[adamh]

Self driving cars will bring huge benefits. They aren't quite ready yet, too many bugs. The main problem seems to be computer vision and interpretation of what it sees. One example is when a semi truck crossed the road and the car saw the white side of the truck and thought it was the sky so the car ran into the truck. One day, we will be able to call for the car which may be parked some ways away, it will take us to the destination then look for a parking space all while you do your business. When you are done, car comes back and takes you to your next destination. Auto accidents will be a thing of the past and people will be able to start work while driving

 

The many health problems we have are mostly due to poor diet, I believe, as well as lack of exercise. The clot shot caused major health problems the world over. One interesting area of research is designer antibodies that can be programmed to the person's chemistry and will selectively attack cancer cells or bacteria while not harming normal tissue