Physical Space: The Final Frontier
There’s a war going on. As a species we are trying to defeat scarcity. And we are close to winning.
The heavy artillery is on its way: machines that assemble what we need on an molecular level, and abundant energy sources to power them.
This may sound far out, but it’s not. These machines exist in labs. They just need scaled up, generalized to multiple materials, and made consumer friendly. It’ll take years of work, but the path is there. An abundant energy source already exists: the sun. As our tech gets smaller and more efficient, it’ll be all we need.
These advances will guarantee us an abundance of food and physical goods. The only thing we’ll have run out of is excuses: for not sharing them with everyone.
Growing Pains
The hardest part won’t be the technology. It will be the way civilization adapts.
Every war has two sides. Institutions, industries, and systems that have outlived their usefulness will fight for survival. They always do. Look at the way oil industry, combustion engine industry, and car dealerships are battling EVs for a modern day example.
Systems that create artificial scarcity will need to dismantled. Patents and copyrights, so useful in this era of forward progress, will become a hindrance once we reach our destination.
There will be social upheaval. Rebels and heroes. The stuff great stories are made of. In the end, we’ll win a world of abundance.
And our story won’t stop there.
An Honest Living
A look at the unemployment numbers of this future world would freak out modern day economists. Since physical goods will no longer be scarce, they will have no monetary value. They will be free. People will no longer need to do anything in exchange for them.
The problem will be how to divide and share what’s still rare. Food, clothing, and physical stuff will be abundant. But there’s one thing that won’t.
Space.
And I’m not talking about the kind with stars. I’m talking about the space where you live: your home. I’m talking about access to shared locations, public spaces.
Space is a limited resource. How do we fairly divvy it up? One tried and true approach: people earn the right to their personal space via work that others find valuable. This is the system we have now.
Does this mean that we’ll never fully conquer scarcity?
Live Long and Prosper
Something else is going to force our hand.
Medical advances will one day guarantee us an abundance of years on this planet. This will be wonderful, but this will require us to think of bold new solutions for the space problem.
As populations increase, the amount of personal space available to us will dwindle. We’ll need to learn to live in smaller and smaller spaces. Eventually, those spaces won’t be able to get any smaller. Technology will need to intervene.
Here are the possibilities that come to mind:
- Master interstellar travel and spread across the galaxy.
- Manufacture other living spaces within our solar system.
- Create the Matrix!
- All of the above
Which way do you think it’ll go?
