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We Could Have a Utopia Today
The only thing standing between us and a utopia is ourselves.
In this article I’d like to imagine a world wherein a grand trade-off has been made: In this hypothetical world, in exchange for ceasing all technological development, we gain the ability to rearrange or optimize everything that currently exists. For example, when it comes to an end to technological development, this means no AIs more advanced than those already in existence, no smaller or more powerful iPhones or laptops, no new medications or medical equipment, no new electric cars, none of the potential gene therapies and synthetic biologies opened to us by CRSPR — nothing new at all. In exchange, we can make more of whatever we currently make, we can distribute it as we will, and we can modify it as far as we are capable, so long as it doesn’t involve any additives. Now that we have clarified our terms, we can begin to see what it would look like.
If no food went to waste, with no one growing obese from overconsumption, and instead every person got exactly what they needed food wise, world hunger would cease immediately. Not only would it cease immediately, but we’d have an over abundance; it is estimated that humans currently produce one and half times the amount of food needed to feed everyone on Earth. It’s also enough to accommodate the peak human population…
