From: Bryan Moss (bryan.moss@dial.pipex.com)
Date: Thu Sep 03 1998 - 07:17:28 MDT
Damien Broderick wrote:
> In the longer term, with the advent of molecular
> nanofacture and AI, we will *all* be in this
> position, to some extent. But those
> technologies will perhaps change the landscape
> so drastically that we will have to start again
> from scratch in thinking these issues through.
Molecular manufacturing certainly puts a new spin
on these problems. With MNT everything can be
recycled, and once everything can be recycled -
nothing is free. This causes a serious problem for
those who live off other people's waste. Also,
because MNT brings most items down to near-zero
cost, nobody can afford to give things away. If
rice (something they need) and microchips
(something you need) cost the same (near-zero)
then you can no longer afford to give rice to the
starving masses (there is no difference in the
price of rice rising and the price of everything
that's more expensive than rice decreasing).
BM
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