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Solarpunk @slrpnk.net
Ruigaard @slrpnk.net

Stellar, a very convincing vision of how we can move towards a Solar Punk world.

stellarworld.com

Discover a Stellar World

Just finished the stellarbook, by James Arbib and Tony Seba (from RethinkX). They make a very interesting case on how we can move from our current extractive societies to one of abundance. It touches on many themes that are well known in the solar punk community, still it brought together a clear overview and model of where we are now and how to get to a better world.

I was wondering if anyone here has read it as well. And what your take is.

19 comments

  • I was wondering if anyone here has read it as well. And what your take is.

    Personally, I will not read it because:

    Meet the authors

    James Arbib is a technology investor and the founder of Tellus Mater, an independent philanthropic foundation dedicated to exploring the impacts of disruptive technology and its potential for solving some of the world’s most challenging problems.

    Tony Seba is a world-renowned thought leader, author, speaker, educator, investor and Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

    In relation to the content of the book, I wouldn't be too surprised if these two capitalists suggest misleading technological "solutions" to a problem that is not technological in nature, but systemic. Meaning, the problem is the eternal growth of the capitalist system on a finite planet, and there is no techno-fix for that. Also, I'm pretty sure they are making baseless claims about humans and human societies to back their proposals.

    Anyways, now that I said all that, may I suggest another reading? Totally free and priceless :)

    What is Solarpunk?

    • Hahaha, thanks for the reading tip.

      The interesting thing in their book is, they acknowledge the end of the road for capitalism/extraction. Technologies like solar, wind, batteries (and recycling thereof) offer a great alternative with near zero marginal costs, they apply the same logic to labor in the form of robotics and AI (of AI I'm still skeptical). If these technologies will be further implemented will undermine incumbent industries. And can replace them entirely with almost free energy and labor. But they do caution that there needs to be a shift from the capitalistic outrol of this tech (as is happening now) to a communal benefit of them. As well a change of private ownership to a new communal model. The potential abundance can make this happen, starting in tech-eco hubs and spread from there. It's definitly about a techno, system and societal "fix".

      Honestly I get your skepticism and that of other commenters, but as someone who works (and plays) in the sustainability field for a long time now, this book made a lot of sense.

      That being said, I will keep on reading a lot of different sources on the subject as well and refine my opinion further.

      • If I understand you correctly in the part you talk about labor, robotics and AI, it reminds me of what was said by capitalists when automations started being employed in factories, meaning many, many decades ago.

        At the time the capitalist narrative was saying to workers stuff like "we know you work hard, but thanks to the technological advancements in automations your children will work less and have a better life". We very well know this never happened, only the rich got richer, to the detriment of everybody else and the planet as a whole.

        So, allow me to say, this approach is not new.

  • I came up with something that I called the Seba Technology Disruption Framework, which says that technology disruptions happen because of a combination, so a convergence of technology cost curves, business modelling innovation and product innovation, of which are enabled by this convergence of technologies

    Essentially what I forecast as you know in Clean Disruption, was there were four technologies and one business model; solar, batteries, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and ride hailing that were disruptive in their own way, but combined would disrupt all of energy and transportation, that the disruption would be over by about 2030.

    After that I decided to start a think tank called ReThinkX, because it turns out that my disruption framework does work, and it does work not just for energy and transportation, but also across the board. One of my hypotheses was that every single industry bar none, every single industry is going to be disrupted by this combination of technologies, and business modelling innovation and product innovation

    We made the prediction that it was the convergence of autonomous electric and on demand transportation that would disrupt all of transportation, and the tipping point was going to be 2021. Essentially on the day that level 4 autonomous vehicles are approved and ready, which we assume will be 2021, the cost per mile of transportation will be 1/10th, 10 x cheaper than the cost of owning a car.

    as the years went by and my numbers for solar, for batteries, for PVs and so-on, have proven to be right then they’re paying more attention. Essentially that has changed the whole narrative about how quickly this disruption is going to happen, that this is not an energy transition, that this is a disruption both energy and transportation

    A really stupid fucking interview seven years ago

    Don’t let a bunch of VC-bought, Silicon Valley capitalists ruin an ideology antithetical to their goals. Stay away from this “disruptive” bullshit.

  • Judging by the website alone, this looks shadier than the Venus Project.

19 comments