This is such a deep well for conversation, such a valuable subject for debate. I love that Adam Savage thinks and talks about it, and I wish I could have a conversation with him.
First, you say, “It is profitable for some people not to have food and shelter.” I want to understand what you mean by that better. Let’s take shelter first. How exactly would a business profit from homelessness?
I understand the supply and demand argument. Artificially limit supply, prices artificially increase. The problem with a conspiracy in the free market is that the first one to break the deal stands to make huge profit. The more product you can provide, the more customers you can serve, the more money you make.
The big business interests that supply housing have a vested interest in housing as many people as they possibly can with as high a level of luxury as they can possibly sell. If they don’t, private homeowners will jump at the opportunity to profit on the older housing they own.
Unless competition is stifled. And the only entity that can do that is the government.
Some of what government does to stifle competition is necessary, of course; some regulations keep housing safe and humane. But I could see an argument that the politicians who run on solving homelessness in your home state of California would suffer if they couldn’t run on it anymore, I could see an argument that the government bureaucrats charged with ending homelessness would be out of a job if they were to succeed. But if that was the problem you were pointing to, you wouldn’t vote for those politicians or proudly send your tax dollars to those bureaucrats as homelessness gets worse.
Or are you saying, not that it is positively profitable for people to be without food and shelter, but that it is not profitable to provide food and shelter to people who can’t pay market rate for it? In which case, that’s obviously true and I agree with you. The question is what do we do, given that fact?
You say “we have enough food and shelter for everyone.” I’m not telling you anything you don’t know when I point out that food rots and homes require maintenance. It takes constant investment to provide food and shelter.
If we were talking about a one-time investment, that would be one conversation. But the fact of the matter is, to feed and house everyone would require fresh food and new construction and maintenance every single day until the end of time. That is a critical fact to keep in the very front of our minds as we look for solutions.
Also, there are four categories of individual in society who require food and shelter: those who do something valuable for society and exchange some of their earnings for food and shelter, those unable to provide value to society, those who refuse to provide value to society, and those who provide value to society, but require disproportional amounts of healthcare or other support.
If those categories were discrete, it is true that the productive members of society generate so much excess value to society that we could easily provide for those who do not provide for themselves. But the categories are not discrete. Complex human individuals can pass seamlessly from one category to another. And as soon as food and shelter are provided for free to the three categories that can’t afford it, those categories will grow and the productive category will shrink.
I believe wholeheartedly that we can find a way to provide food and housing for everyone. But to do so, there are many facts that are just as important as the fact that there currently is enough food and housing for everyone.
But the biggest question when contemplating a Star Trek future is: how do we move past money?
I’ve made it clear previously how much I love money. Money is absolutely incredible.
Without thinking too deeply, it’s easy to praise the idea of “moving past money.” The love of money is the root of all evil, after all. Money just represents greed and self-centeredness.
But in the real world, money is value. Materials are not infinite, knowledge is not infinite, effort is not infinite. And given the inherent limitations of existence, it is absolutely indispensable that we try to measure and compare value in order to allocate resources, expand knowledge, and encourage effort.
You cannot do math without numbers. You cannot level a scale without weights. You cannot bake a cake without correctly proportioning the ingredients. Not measuring is not an option. So what do we measure with if not money?
I love the Star Trek future, but we won’t make it there if our eyes are closed.
