Great issue Patty. Software is “eating” the world because it is immaterial.
As a species, we are gradually dematerializing many products. We saw this in books, where the printing press first brought the cost of physical books down. Now software has made the cost of reproducing books so low that we have to create artificial scarcity to charge for it.
Software is poised to continue to benefit from the dematerialization of the economy.
Packy's vision resonates deeply with my own experiences and aspirations within the creator economy. The concept of making energy, intelligence, and dexterity almost free commodities could be the very key to unlocking a new era where creators like myself can leverage AI not just as a tool, but as a transformative collaborator. The potential growth trajectory for tech companies like Tesla mirrors the boundless opportunities creators have when empowered by technology. This piece not only outlines a future of abundant resources but also challenges us to think exponentially - a mindset I've embraced in both my acapella career and my advisory roles. It's a clarion call to all creators and investors: the future is ours to shape with the most innovative tools at our disposal. Let's build it to be as limitless as our collective imagination
Love the general encouragement around the idea of capturing the 'raw' energy from the sun ☀. After all, this is how our planet got all of its energy from in the first place. Entropy aaahhh 🤗
However, I'm not fully convinced we can ever push the energy cost near to or to 0. Jevons paradox reminds us that the increased energy efficiency ⚡⬆ often leads to more consumption 🍴⬆ rather than less. So its likely that the demand will increase with the supply. I get the economies of scale, that in principle work good with products and businesses. Would these economies follow the same principle for sth that's a concept like an energy?
There's also this idea of energy cost getting to 0. Things can go to 0 either when they are / become abundant (think air we breathe), or when (for whatever reason) we just don't perceive them as valuable.
What's more, as species, we also tend to oversimplify and greatly underestimate the real cost of the energy we use ('energy blindness').
There are a couple of ways how we eventually get to realize the vision painted in the article. The vision is achieved through either:
a) magically becoming a Type II civilization and building the Dyson Sphere around the sun that will solve all our energy problems, (won't happen in our lifetimes),
or
b) continuing the game of hide & seek with the true cost of energy. The best way to hide in this game is through offsetting the narratives to evergreen irrelevant tangents. This game itself is played at a very high cost too.
or
c) literally burn our way to it with 🔥 fossil fuels and cook our planet in the process (more likely),
Our main problem is corruption of our systems. In tech and everywhere. We don't trust these systems anymore and we need tech to fix that.
The corruption is easy to detect. If the people are part of the solution, it likely is not corrupted. If the solutions only come from top down centralized entities, it is likely corrupted.
The solution to the corruption is new decentralized and transparent systems, called Human Swarm Intelligence systems.
Humans solve problems better in groups. Like a think tank, you can be part of the solution:
Would be great to have some thoughts on the demand side as well. Very optimistic on the supply side
Sure hope these giant tech companies are somewhat benevolent. I have my doubts.
Would love to hear your thoughts on how you see Tech Optimism/growth affecting the working class? (Non college educated workers.)
How can they ride the wave too and not be left behind?
Great issue Patty. Software is “eating” the world because it is immaterial.
As a species, we are gradually dematerializing many products. We saw this in books, where the printing press first brought the cost of physical books down. Now software has made the cost of reproducing books so low that we have to create artificial scarcity to charge for it.
Software is poised to continue to benefit from the dematerialization of the economy.
Packy's vision resonates deeply with my own experiences and aspirations within the creator economy. The concept of making energy, intelligence, and dexterity almost free commodities could be the very key to unlocking a new era where creators like myself can leverage AI not just as a tool, but as a transformative collaborator. The potential growth trajectory for tech companies like Tesla mirrors the boundless opportunities creators have when empowered by technology. This piece not only outlines a future of abundant resources but also challenges us to think exponentially - a mindset I've embraced in both my acapella career and my advisory roles. It's a clarion call to all creators and investors: the future is ours to shape with the most innovative tools at our disposal. Let's build it to be as limitless as our collective imagination
Instant classic.
For the record, I’m very much on the packy optimism train :)
Love the general encouragement around the idea of capturing the 'raw' energy from the sun ☀. After all, this is how our planet got all of its energy from in the first place. Entropy aaahhh 🤗
However, I'm not fully convinced we can ever push the energy cost near to or to 0. Jevons paradox reminds us that the increased energy efficiency ⚡⬆ often leads to more consumption 🍴⬆ rather than less. So its likely that the demand will increase with the supply. I get the economies of scale, that in principle work good with products and businesses. Would these economies follow the same principle for sth that's a concept like an energy?
There's also this idea of energy cost getting to 0. Things can go to 0 either when they are / become abundant (think air we breathe), or when (for whatever reason) we just don't perceive them as valuable.
What's more, as species, we also tend to oversimplify and greatly underestimate the real cost of the energy we use ('energy blindness').
There are a couple of ways how we eventually get to realize the vision painted in the article. The vision is achieved through either:
a) magically becoming a Type II civilization and building the Dyson Sphere around the sun that will solve all our energy problems, (won't happen in our lifetimes),
or
b) continuing the game of hide & seek with the true cost of energy. The best way to hide in this game is through offsetting the narratives to evergreen irrelevant tangents. This game itself is played at a very high cost too.
or
c) literally burn our way to it with 🔥 fossil fuels and cook our planet in the process (more likely),
Scary stuff.
Is there a way out from this pessimism?
One of your best. Love the Formic and Varda case studies.
Best piece for awhile! Super good post Packy. Keep drilling into this area so much value.
Our main problem is corruption of our systems. In tech and everywhere. We don't trust these systems anymore and we need tech to fix that.
The corruption is easy to detect. If the people are part of the solution, it likely is not corrupted. If the solutions only come from top down centralized entities, it is likely corrupted.
The solution to the corruption is new decentralized and transparent systems, called Human Swarm Intelligence systems.
Humans solve problems better in groups. Like a think tank, you can be part of the solution:
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/human-swarm-intelligence-the-most