This is a speculative social-design piece, shared for critique. The
proposal: guarantee food universally as a regulated utility (near-zero marginal cost via
automation), keep a certified capitalist sphere on top for scarcity and experience, and let
human labour migrate from the reproduction of survival to the creation of meaning.
I try to take the objections seriously rather than hand-wave them: zero-price demand effects,
boundary arbitrage between the free and paid spheres, the decades-long transition without
crowding-out collapse, energy as a single point of failure, and — the one I can't resolve — the
concentration of power over both the food utility and mass fervour ("bread and circuses"). I
argue the design's legitimacy must rest on non-concentration that survives any given ruler's
departure, not on a benevolent controller.
I'd value this community's view on tractability and on whether "in-kind universal provision via
automation" is a better or worse lever than cash transfers for long-run cooperation and welfare.
Full page is on https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21927120
