Abundance Now

I enjoy reading and thinking about an abundant future.

I recently read about how Balaji believes we’ll control drones from our software programs in the future, making software control more and more of our physical reality. That excites me (and scares me a little). I look forward to every issue of The White Pill Investment Index featuring investments in new technology that paints a picture of a wild future. I’ve followed some of the drama about e/acc and am on the side of accelerating progress (although this is not something I have spent much time on).

An abundant future is an exciting future. And the future looks like it is just around the corner. But what if it is already here?

Almost everything in my home indicates I already live in a world of abundance. Clean water flows freely, not just for drinking but also for showering. And the dirty water I produce magically disappears below me. Turn a switch and electricity flows to whatever device I have plugged in. One of the devices I have is a supercomputer that fits in my pocket and allows me to connect with and consume information from all over the world. A 5-minute walk and I arrive at a shop that offers food from exotic places I have never been to. If I don’t care to walk, someone can prepare, cook, and deliver the food to my doorstep. And when I need to get rid of something, a complex system of garbage collection means I just have to put it in a bin down the street.

When I think about all of these privileges for a moment, our current time indeed feels abundant. People around me aren’t dying of starvation, they are dying of overeating. Most people aren’t worn out by hard labor. They are weak because they spend most of their time sitting.

I live in a privileged part of the world. Many people have it much worse than me. So I’m excited about future developments that will bring some of this abundance to the rest of the world. We need that.

But what about a place like mine where we already have abundance?

I could live on ~ 1/4 of my paycheck and be just fine. If I really tried I could even live on less. And I would still live in abundance. But I’m not. I’m living on my full paycheck. And sometimes (more often than I’d like to admit) I still complain.

I wonder if the future will be similar. If we continue to create more abundance but at the same time create more waste. Just so we have something to spend our money and time on.

Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe we’ll get smarter. Maybe we really will create so much abundance that we don’t have to work most of our lives.

All I know is that my world feels quite abundant already. I just take it for granted. I’m still going to dream about an exciting future — and I do think it is worth striving for. But I would also like to appreciate all the amazing things humanity have achieved already.