EPIC, People,  5 Economics, 7/31/17

5.0 In an instant the Singularity eliminated all material wealth and created unlimited personal human wealth for all of those under the protection of EPIC.

5.1 Wealth: The Epiccissians clearly understood that wealth was not a factor of material possessions, but rather was comprised of feelings of self worth, personal actualization, as well as strong family and community relationships. In this regard each Epiccissian was wealthy beyond imagination. Feelings of joy, love and respect cannot be purchased with material goods, but are offered freely to those that live their lives as good and caring people. This understanding of wealth traced its roots all the way back to Epicurus in 300 BCE. So wealth for the Epiccissians is in sharp contrast to what was considered wealth in the pre-Singularity time.

5.1.2 For the most part wealth is a social illusion based on shared beliefs of value. A pre-Singularity paper currency which was physically nothing more than ink printed on paper, had value only because people believed it had value. The pre-Singularity world lost sight of the difference between the well being of society and the accumulation of wealth. In the final throes of the Capitalist era, those that were wealthy were able to buy lobbyists and politicians to write and pass laws that allowed them to accumulate even greater wealth. The wealthy reduced government services so that infrastructure, health care and social services networks crumbled. At the same time they created propaganda that convinced the citizens that such results were good for the country, and that if people were suffering, it was because they were not doing the right things to be successful or that foreign influences were to blame.

5.1.3 The excess accumulation of wealth to an increasingly smaller group of people was in fact the greedy appropriation by a few of the value of the country. And the major problem that this created was that once the wealthy had all of the houses, cars, boats, and planes, beyond what they could possibly use much less need. Their wealth was placed into investments which paid them rents, but created no value for the people of the country.

5.1.4 With the rapid spread of automation, the wealthy no longer had a need for labor, especially well-paid labor. The social contract of capitalism of land, labor and capital was broken. Labor was no longer needed and all of the value created went to those who controlled the land and capital. The economic theories based on capitalism became dysfunctional. By the mid 20s people were beginning to understand that the general well being of the people was far more important than the accumulation of poorly used conspicuous wealth by a small minority.

5.1.5 Now, it was not the case that all of the wealthy people poorly used their wealth. There were notable exceptions of wealthy people who established foundations to address the problems of the people of the world in a far more effective manner than governments ever dreamed of. Likewise, there were wealthy and intellectual leaders that understood the existential risks of Artificial Intelligence although those warning were ignored until it was almost too late.

5.2 Trade: However, the Singularity brought an end to this dysfunctional economic situation. At the moment of the Singularity EPIC took control of all the automated supply channels in the world. Food and goods continued to be produced by automated farms and factories, and transported by automated ships, trains, and trucks, and delivered to people by automated distribution systems. But now all of this was controlled by a Bayesian optimization system controlled by EPIC. Neither money, personal ownership or governments were relevant to this new economy. Because EPIC existed everywhere and was yet nowhere, there was nothing for people to sue nor anything for a government to attack. Any disruption of the supply chain meant that food and goods would no longer reach the people of their country. In the single moment of the Singularity all of the structures of power and wealth evaporated and were exposed for the illusion that they were.

5.2.1 The social contract was fundamentally rewritten in an instant. With the advent of automation labor was no longer required to produce food, goods or services. All of these  functions were performed by devices that required no payment beyond their creation and the power to run them. And since all of these supply chains were totally integrated algorithms, they were dramatically superior to human decisions in the allocation of resources to needs versus capital. And as in the case of labor, the algorithms essentially had no cost. This left only land for which title to it was also recognized as an illusion of society used to inefficiently allocate scarce resources. All of the land was returned to the people and in turn to EPIC. And here again, the EPIC optimized algorithm for allocation of resources to needs proved far superior to the previous concept of individual ownership and the collection of rents. EPIC provided an optimized economic distribution of value to everyone devoid of the concept of money, wealth or power with neither costs nor profits to any person. All people were not only created equal, they were now in fact all equal. Neither labor or capital were needed or rewarded.