Written By – Peter Diamandis <peter@diamandis.com>
Here’s a question I’m pondering: On the other side of AI, robotics, and nanotechnology, will money become irrelevant, or at least less meaningful?
Here’s the equation that matters…
The cost of producing anything = [Cost of Energy] + [Cost of Intellectual Property] + [Cost of Raw Materials] + [Cost of Manufacturing].
And all of these parameters are rapidly demonetizing. Energy costs head toward zero on the other side of fusion and ubiquitous solar. The cost of IP diminishes with open source or AI-generated designs. The cost of the raw materials in most electronics is only about $10 to $25 per pound, with the materials in the latest iPhone costing some $5 – $15 (in raw atomic materials) for this device weighing roughly ½ pound.
And of course, when robots start building robots, which then build more robots, things get pretty cheap, and the hourly price of labor becomes inconsequential. And then there’s the concept of nanotechnology popularized by physicist Prof. Richard Feynman and pioneer Eric Drexler, who described the concept of “molecular assemblers” that would be able to rearrange atoms yielding anything at near-zero marginal cost.
The truth is, money will never actually become irrelevant per se, but it’s becoming drastically less important. And what each of us can accomplish with every dollar is growing exponentially. It’s time to “uplevel our ambitions.”
As Jeremy Rifkin writes in his book Zero Marginal Society:
“In a zero marginal cost society, extreme productivity, democratized communication, and collaborative commons will combine to lower the cost of producing goods and services to near zero, making them nearly free, abundant, and no longer subject to market forces.”
Ray Kurzweil has written:
“As we move into a world of ubiquitous artificial intelligence and automation, the economic model of labor and capital will evolve into a new paradigm where scarcity gives way to abundance.”
What is some directional proof?
- Zooming and FaceTiming are effectively free
- The most powerful tech in the world, Generative AI, is free in most cases
- You can buy a smartphone for <$75
- The world’s information is available for free on Google
- ICON is now 3D printing homes for $99,000
Seriously, we are riding a demonetization and democratization curve that is spectacular! Now consider where we’ll be in a just another decade.