I occasionally play at developing some ideas for a science fiction novel, in which Earth's civilization encounters a million year old technological civilization. No details here, but I was struck by something Krugman says in his column today. Bear with me, I will connect these disparate dots. Krugman notes that, to "everyone's" surprise, data show that raising minimum wages increases employment and overall wages, it doesn't decrease them.
Sages from my fictitious old, old civilization would say, "well, obviously." See, and this is my optimistic long range view of reality as well, the truth is that the universe is full of energy and full of materials. Sure, it takes some effort and smarts. But we have that. We are, whether we realize it or not, in the process of creating a future culture of unbridled abundance, not scarcity, where the most valuable commodity will be time. Energy, food, housing, transportation... these things will eventually be so abundant that they will be readily available in more than sufficient quantities to everyone.
Doubt away, but I am sure this is true. My old ones have told me so. (Actually, it comes from just thinking about what will really happen): either we will fail, and become extinct, or we will learn to harness the energy of the stars, in which case there are no practical limits. And no reason to continue acting as if everything is scarce and it's dog eat dog to get your share.
And the fact that promoting wealth among the many increases overall well-being for everyone is an early indicator of the trends that are gradually manifesting themselves. We must care for one another, promote well-being everywhere, modify our economies and politics to encompass cooperation not competition. And then the arc of history will bend not merely towards justice, but towards peace, abundance, comfort, and opportunity to do entirely new things not yet dreamed of.
Eternal (literally) optimist, I.
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