On abundance of non-renewable resources - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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The solving of mankind’s problems and abolition of government via technological solutions alone.

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#14080974
I don't know if there are still technocracy supporters who are active on PoFo, but if there are any, I have a question. I understand the idea of abundance when it comes to renewable resources. If you need water, you only need to go and get it, because it is abundant and renewable. the same with air, sand, wood, food, rocks etc. But what is the technocratic solution to materials that are not renewable and therefore, not abundant?

For example, in a technocracy, if I need a piece of gold for an electronic circuit, how will the system guarantee that it will be available? The stock of gold in the modern world is limited, after all. It simply circulates, without more gold being produced. Of course, once we get to expand into outer space, I understand this will not be a problem. Practically all asteroids have all kinds of metal. Jupiter has helium and hydrogen in abundance etc. But we are still several decades behind that.

For some non-renewable materials, alternatives can be easily considered. Alternative forms of energy than petroleum, for example. But to some materials, it would be impossible to find a replacement. :hmm:

What solution would technocracy offer to that problem? Would it say that we are not quite there yet, until our society manages to move into outer space and all materials become highly abundant?
#14081568
Thank you for the reply, Kolzene. It does answer my question to an extent. But I'm still confused on how the system would guarantee the availability of scarce resources.

Back to the gold example, what if the demand for gold in the technate is bigger than the available world supply? What kind of solution could be implemented? Trading some abundant internal resources for gold with other nations won't help, since the demand will be larger than the entire supply of the material, after all.
#14084436
Smertios wrote:Thank you for the reply, Kolzene. It does answer my question to an extent. But I'm still confused on how the system would guarantee the availability of scarce resources.


To a degree, scarcity is a viewpoint, not a fixed reality. Consider; we don't mine asteroids because it is not "economical" to do so, but under a technocratic regime the calculations would change substantially (because there would no longer be a power/profit advantage arising from increased scarcity). Or, in other words, scarcity under capitalism translates to profit and power, while scarcity in a technocracy would translate into unavailable products. The "positive" side of scarcity would disappear, entirely shifting the economic calculations that make things like asteroid mining a ridiculous concept under capitalism.

It's not that the technology doesn't exist, it's that we deploy our resources and infrastructure in ways that make economic development of resources in space expensive. A technocracy might well decide differently.

Back to the gold example, what if the demand for gold in the technate is bigger than the available world supply? What kind of solution could be implemented? Trading some abundant internal resources for gold with other nations won't help, since the demand will be larger than the entire supply of the material, after all.


Rationing--just as happens under capitalism. Except under capitalism the rationing happens even when supplies aren't restricted.

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