John Maynard Keynes predicted Copiosis. He didn’t clearly understand what he saw, as most people predicting the future don’t. Never the less, in an essay still quoted decades after he wrote it, Keynes talks about a technology-enabled future that only Copiosis makes possible.
Keynes called his oft-quoted 1930 essay “Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren“. In it, he described a future – a century hence – where people worked only 15 hours a week.
2030 marks a century since Keynes wrote his essay. That’s about 10 years from now. Just enough time for Copiosis’ emergence. While our implementation plan hums along, let’s look at why he offered what he offered. Something some erroneously describe as an incorrect prediction.
Efficiency, technology and human choosing
Keynes’s argued for the 15-hour work week future this way. He said in a hundred years, machines, technology and new ideas would make people more productive. So much more productive, he thought people would choose working less.
Did that happen? Not really.
Today, work hours per week dropped a little in some countries. But in 1950, American work weeks averaged about 38 hours compared to 34 hours a week on average today. That’s fewer hours. But a far cry from where Keynes thought we’d be.
That said, technology did create a world where people produce far more than 1930s employees. And despite planned obsolescence and other consumerism-driving business strategies, people do enjoy far better quality goods too. What’s more, much of what’s consumed these days couldn’t exist back then.
For example, technologies warfare created dramatically improved our everyday lives. Flu vaccines, Penicillin, and plasma transfusion know how transformed medicine. Jet engines transformed air travel. Microwaves transformed kitchen dinners. And, of course, computers changed…everything.
Sleight of hand or misperception?
We say Keynes saw Copiosis as the future because Copiosis transforms how people experience work. Perhaps Keynes meant something different from how most interpret his essay’s reference to “work”.
Keynes talks about two factors changing people’s work relationship. The first one we talked about already. Technological advancement, he said would increase productivity.
But capital accumulation rounds out his thesis. He said many people would accumulate so much capital, they’d no longer need to work.
Today many accumulating capital keep working. Most of the richest people living today continue working well after they’re multibillionaires. Was Keynes wrong?
Keynes wasn’t wrong. He interpreted what he saw in the future through his own lens.
It’s true capital accumulation – a specific definition of wealth – will create freedom from work. We see this happening as rich people and some ordinary folks become wealthier. Wealth they create comes faster and easier. Many hardly lift a finger creating that wealth. Crypto currencies such as Doge and Bitcoin minted many millionaires. New digital currencies get created every year. Certainly more people will discover wealth that way. Any of that wealth created through what we know as “work”?
Robin Hood, an investment app turned some ordinary folks into millionaires too. Ever heard of GameStop? Some fateful, fruitful days January 2021 showed how ordinary people can now become rich. In some cases, over night.
So we see technology increasing production. We see more ways people, including ordinary people, get rich. Many such avenues didn’t exist in Keynes’ time. Capital accumulation IS happening for more people. It’s easier and faster getting rich.
So perhaps Keynes saw the future. Perhaps he only understated how long it would take. Perhaps not. What’s clear to us is, he nailed the future. That future is Copiosis.
It ain’t too hard to figure the future Copiosis creates
Think about it. Copiosis creates a world where people accumulate wealth rapidly and passively. That wealth grows through far more avenues than what’s possible today. All people need do: be good, follow their passions and benefit others.
Do that and their wealth grows. And fast.
Wealth in Copiosis looks like extremely large numbers of NBR income streams. It also looks like an ever expanding silver platter of necessity items, provided to all at no cost. Such items increasingly get more luxurious. They also get better quality-wise.
Wealth also looks like a plethora of luxuries, available to all. With untold NBR income streams, and income good only for luxuries, in short order, nearly everyone can consume what they want. That’s wealth.
Not to mention a beautifully restored planet, thanks to people passionate about doing such things.
In Copiosis, wealth flows into people’s lives at quantities so great, people will find it difficult to enjoy it all. At that point, something interesting happens. Actually, it happens well before that point.
Changing what “work” means
People get rich in Copiosis by creating benefit for others through their passions. Wealth accumulation naturally flows from passion pursuit. Many successful people today spend many hours doing what they do for income. Why is that?
Maybe because they like what they do!
Copiosis inspires that…for everyone. Think about it. If everyone does only what they like doing, are they working? Or are they enjoying themselves? Totally absorbed by what they love. Floating their boats by doing only things that…float their boats!
Ironically, Keynes himself worked until his heart literally called it quits. Descendants in his family tree said he loved what he did. World War II just ended back then. So Keynes dedicated his energies to help put the global economy back together.
So Keynes not only wrote about a future he saw. He lived that future too.
Creating Keynes’ future
We do that too here at Copiosis. Instead of working, we love seeing Copiosis unfold while we do our part as part of the fun of creating this new future. Of course, times exist where we put in a lot of effort. Sometimes that feels like work.
But when we look at what we’re doing, the amount we actually “work” sums to less than 15 hours a week. That’s not likely to change.
So Keynes future exists today. In less than 10 years his essay will celebrate the 100 year anniversary since Keynes penned it. That’s plenty of time from which Copiosis will show the world – a world – where people no longer need to work.
Some think Copiosis a pipe dream. We see it as reality and the future. We see that future because we believe in it. It’s a better future for everyone.
Keynes saw the future too. He saw it because he believed it possible. He just didn’t know the name of it.
Now we do.