Re: How to get Post-Scarcity?

On 29 Jun 2008 00:40:16 +0100 (BST), Thomas Womack
<twomack@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <1214694338.45975@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Michael Ash <mike@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In _A Deepness in the Sky_, Vinge imagines that technology can't be
maintained with anything less than a full planetary civilization. It's
just fiction but I find the idea to be extremely plausible.

I think the idea's plausible, but I'm not quite sure how far the
fan-outs go; Taiwan is reasonably autarkic and has some of the best
semiconductor manufacturing in the world,

Huh? Imports make up about a third of Taiwan's economy - that's
less autarkic than even Japan.

The rest of the world playing the "You're not even a real country
any way!" game, is just politics, has nothing to do with trade
and commerce. There's no blockade, no embargo, and no shortage
of freighters and tankers full of desperately-needed stuff going
to Taiwan.

I mean, the only reason you know about their semiconductor
manufacturing is their semiconductor exports. Did you think
they were just giving the stuff away to show off?


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