From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Dec 08 1999 - 14:02:23 MST
On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Robin Hanson wrote:
>
> I'm not sure I understand you, but it seems that you are saying that
> future economies will have less demand for intelligent labor, such as
> humans and uploads can provide. I think this is pretty unlikely.
>
Robin, this raises some very interesting questions. Have economists
considered the parallels between "economies" and "ecosystems"?
What are the similarities and differences between the two?
For example, it seems to me that one similarity is the principle
of scarcity. A difference may be that ecosystems don't have
a "currency" for exchange (unless it is perhaps the nutrients).
Sure you get symbionts but I'm not sure they are essential and
they seem to utilize a kind of barter exchange.
Perhaps the difference in perspectives is that some people look
at the future from only an economic perspective while others look
at it from only an ecosystem perspective. In fact, we exist in a world
today that has *both*. An ecosystem seems to be a requirement for an
economy, but the economy could be used to enhance or make the ecosystem
more productive. The question regarding personal survival is one of
whether you can find a niche to occupy in an ecosystem. Plenty of
organisms survive quite well with absolutely no concept of what an
economy is.
The interesting question is that if you have a ecosystem, then
you put economics on top of that, is there something further
that operates at a higher level still?
Robert
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