If I ever gave the impression that I think the Network Economies model is perfect, that was not the intent
I do believe though that this model has both the best explanatory power for the multiple crises we're facing (crisis of trust, automation & joblessness, AI misalignment, corporate race to the bottom, wealth concentration, sensemaking crisis, etc.) and also the best shot at escaping the Economic Vortex we're all being sucked into and putting us on a path to mass prosperity
Obviously I haven't worked out every last possible edge case and failure mode, and it's possible the model has bigger issues
So if you think there is a better economic model out there, or have ideas to improve or stress test the Network Economies model, I'd love to hear it (can do it in the replies or send me a DC)
Almost 20 years ago I came to the conclusion that sooner or later automation is going to completely wreck our economy. (That was before AI was even a thing.)
Since I was in college at the time, that made me wonder — what’s the point of making a lot of money if, in 30–40 years, money itself might lose value once the economy collapses?
I started thinking about whether I could actually understand what’s wrong with our system — and maybe come up with a way to fix it.
An alien looking at our situation would probably think we’ve lost our minds. It’s not some catastrophic event threatening to collapse our economy, but technological progress itself — the ability to mass-produce almost everything people need and want, with little to no human labor. It just didn’t make sense.
So I studied economics in college and did come up with a possible solution. The problem was that what I came up with required a technological component that, at the time, I estimated would take about 80 years to develop.
So I decided to focus on a career in architecture instead, hoping that sooner or later someone would figure out a way to avert an economic collapse.
Almost 15 years later, I listened to a podcast with @vitalik.eth and realized that Ethereum — or rather, “programmable money” — could be used instead of the tech solution I had originally imagined.
What struck me then was that not only had no one offered a serious solution to prevent mass joblessness or economic collapse, but two new challenges had emerged:
1) AI is accelerating the timeline I had once worried about.
2) Our information ecology has deteriorated so much that even a great solution would struggle to break through the noise.
Still, we have to play the hand we’re dealt.
Almost two decades later, I’m seeing that most of the crises we face today — from the breakdown of trust in media and institutions, to social polarization, economic stagnation, market failures in public goods, and resource conflicts — are all connected to the same underlying problem I was trying to identify back then.
The good news is that it can be solved. We now have both the technological tools and the economic framework needed to move toward prosperity instead of collapse. Here’s that framework:
if you're a creator and wondering what's a good price to charge clients, check out the Creator Pricing Calculator that @stellaachenbach built. pretty powerful tool! 💪
thank you to @dwr@v and team for building something truly great!
looking forward to see where @rish takes Farcaster. wishing neynar lots of success in this journey
Suppose you have insider info on event X happening. And suppose event X can help you make $100M (from price movement in stocks)
What incentive do you have to signal to the market that event X will happen ahead of time, when you can make more money from people thinking otherwise?
not only will you not send a "truth signal" in the prediction market, but you'd be sending "lie signals" instead (to lower your entry point in markets as much as possible)
you shouldn’t entrust your money to anyone who doesn’t understand this - or pretends not to
https://x.com/i/status/2008184149450891724
No. It is rising because the system is broken. People feel it.
And until more of us come on board to offer real solutions to make the system work for people, that void will be filled by bad "solutions" that work for nobody
https://x.com/i/status/2007159207100067907
Happy 2026 everyone!
This year I invite you to join me on an adventure — an adventure to create a better economic reality
You don’t need to pack anything, so don’t get too giddy, but I do promise the trip will be worthwhile.
This adventure is both an escape and a destination.
We are escaping an economic reality that is increasingly threatening us with joblessness, and our children with lower living standards and dystopian nightmares.
And while the system can create abundance for all, it can’t do so profitably (since only scarce or artificially scarce goods currently have an exchange value in the market).
So it forces us to choose between our self‑fulfillment — creating things that genuinely benefit others — and our livelihood.
We now have the technology and the ability to create a better economic reality.
A reality where we no longer have to choose between self‑fulfillment and livelihood; where creating things in abundance for all is profitable; and where the race is to make people’s lives better — for us and our children.
But while all of this is possible, none of it will happen if people don’t know about it and build it.
And that is the purpose of this adventure.
So if you’d like to join me on an adventure to create a better economic reality, DC me or follow the link below (https://abundance.id).
And if not, well, you can always take the blue pill (or unfollow).
See you on the other side, and Happy New Year!
Bernie is proposing an idea that Bill Gates had too: let's tax robots!
Unfortunately it's not a long-term solution
What happens when the robots produce everything offshore?
More importantly, the more corporations rely on robots, the more profitable they become, and w that comes concentration of wealth and power
Until one day, govt will have very little say in taxing these corporations. Because corporations will effectively be in control of govt
Taxing robots, UBI, "optional work" etc. are all false promises, and futile attempts to apply outdated thinking to a 21st century problem
Here is how we can solve this: https://abundances.substack.com/p/your-economy-urgently-needs-an-updatehttps://x.com/BernieSanders/status/2005730698188255575
There is no exchange value in the market for creating abundant things ("art"). Only for creating scarce, or artificially scarce, things.
Renaming scarce things as abundant doesn't solve this problem, so you still need to choose between creating actually abundant things or rent
A better alternative is to build an economic paradigm where creating abundant things has value, so that you can create art and also pay rent (that's what Network Economies do)
https://x.com/i/status/2002276771530748012
"Abundance for all" sounds amazing, but you can't get there with an economics that only works on scarcity - it leads to economic collapse
If you don't believe me, try to work out how this would work yourself. You can't.
That's exactly why I wrote The Abundance Economy..
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2001742502332911922?s=20
We should not have to choose between doing meaningful work that's valuable to society, and having a financially rewarding job.
The fact that the vast majority of people have to choose one or the other shows that our system is broken.
That was one of my motivations to quit my job and focus on building a paradigm where we no longer have to choose between the two
