On 10/07/2012 04:11 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote: > [...] > > Now think about the world 200 or 300 years from now. The cost of > building food factories will be far cheaper. Robots will not only > build and maintain the building, and operate all of the equipment, > they will also bring in raw materials from all over the solar system. > Intelligent computers will design improved versions of the factories > and equipment. They will build or upgrade as many factories as needed > without human intervention. The production cost of the food will be as > cheap per kilogram as tap water is today. > > When we reach that stage, charging for food becomes ridiculous. It > would be like standing on a street today charging pedestrians for the > use of the sidewalk or drinking fountain, in units of $0.0001. It is > no longer a moral issue. After hundreds of years of development, the > food factories have become standard and commodified to the point where > there is no risk, and no profit. They might as well be run as public > utilities, like today's water fountains or escalators in railroad > stations. > > [...]
With great wealth comes greatly decreasing prices. When things are so cheap to make, then providing necessities to the less fortunate becomes that much more easy for the philanthropists and private charities. Today, people say that we have to threaten those who have money, with violence, so that we can take some of their money to help those who are less fortunate. But all we really do is institutionalize violence as a solution to our social problems; then we wonder why society seems to become more violent as we use this tool more and more. Years ago, Immanuel Kant wrote that inter-personal morality cannot be derived through reason alone. I just disagree... http://craighaynie.iprx.com/files/4313/4270/2993/TheGenesisImperative.pdf Craig
