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by adambaybutt 1919 days ago
Altman isn't arguing that Moore's Law DOES apply to everything but rather than we should work toward such a world.

It is good for society if the costs of goods and services decrease over time to allow a given income/wealth level to live a better life over time.
2 comments
toomuchtodo 1919 days ago
I'm all for driving down the costs of things low on Maslow's hierarchy, but it's arguably more reasonable in the short term to put effective public policy in place than hope the singularity gets here (an exaggeration, but not exceptionally so, considering "Moore's Law for Everything").

Tech people keep trying to fix people problems with tech. ~47k people die each year in the US from a lack of healthcare. Other countries don't need Moore's Law to fix this, for example [1] [2]. Conversely, it's fine that Elon runs around as Technoking as long as the batteries are pumped out of Gigafactories at full speed. Technology fixes for technology problems, people fixes for people problems. We don't need more wealth ("The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed" -- Gibson). America is one of the wealthiest country in the world. We need quality of life floors and more equitable distributions of what passes for and enables wealth.

With all of that rant said, I really love Sam's idea about the American Equity Fund [3]. It's long overdue, and something that the Federal Reserve could administer today with FedAccounts as the target of distributions from taxes on productive concerns. Sam's a smart person, and I hope he can sell the idea with a pitch deck to those who need to be sold on it. The issue of equity (social and economic) has reached a crescendo, and it would do a disservice to county and citizens alike to let the opportunity go to waste.

[1] https://www.google.com/search?q=healthcare+outcomes+by+count...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_univers...

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24908042

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ctoth 1919 days ago
Could it be that tech people try to fix problems with tech because tech people are familiar with tech? Said another way, where are the non-tech public policy people solving these problems? If they don't step up, maybe it's time the tech people do?
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toomuchtodo 1919 days ago
Absolutely. This is not condemning technologists, but encouraging a reassessment of effective strategies for implementation to lead to the desired outcome.

Policy is written by the elected. Speak to or assume those roles. Provide covering fire for effective contributors who can execute on your mission and vision, just like a startup.

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adambaybutt 1919 days ago
Exactly. Sam isn't a politician or policymaker. He is trying to contribute ideas for others to improve and implement.
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toomuchtodo 1919 days ago
I would encourage him at trying his hand at being one. It's not a long journey from the ideas in his post to legislation.
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adambaybutt 1919 days ago
Technology has reduced costs of goods and services by orders of magnitude more than any public policy.

But yes I do agree iterating to improve public policy is important too.

Hence the organization of Sam's essay to reflect this.

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aksss 1919 days ago
If wishes were fishes, nobody would go hungry.
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