Capitalism is dying

I ran out of space last time so here are sources: http://www.technologyreview.com... http://bigthink.com... Remember don’t look in the short-term (few years); I’m talking about long-term (several decades). My opponent is clearly unaware of what’s happening around the world with regards to renewable energy. European countries are currently far ahead of the game when it comes to renewable energy, not so much in the United States. Here’s a fact to give you an idea how countries outside of U.S. are doing with renewable energy.Take Germany for example. On May 11, 2014, almost 75% of the country’s total energy came from renewables in one day. http://cleantechnica.com... “My opponent claims you can learn ‘anything’ on the computer.”Actually, I said “almost anything” and I’m talking mainly about information knowledge. Of course nobody can learn how to be a mechanic, doctor, or engineer just by reading text or watching videos online. They would still need to go through physical practice/training that require tools and a special environment. But there are many subjects that don’t need formal physical training which you can learn purely online such as History, English, Math, Biology, even computer programming, etc. It’s called Google, Youtube, KhanAcademy, edX, Coursera, MIT OpenCourseWare, just to name a few. Additionally, online classrooms and forums are growing where people discuss, interact and help each other with problems, homeworks, etc. “Therefore, almost anyone with a computer has a chance to make millions of dollars, for the simple fixed start-up cost of a computer (300-800 USD) an Internet connection 50-100 USD per month, and the cost of a website domain name.” Yes. Mark Zuckerberg (Billionaire) was one; he started Facebook in his dorm room. Well of course one would need to know programming, but nowadays you can learn almost any programming language online and from free ebooks. Also, many people have made millions creating their own apps. http://www.entrepreneur.com... Also look at Youtube. Many people have made millions on youtube just by posting a video or creating their own channel of videos. All they need are a video cam (fixed), computer (fixed), and Internet (marginal cost).http://www.theatlantic.com... “Now, if the goal of business operating in a capitalistic economy, is trying to reduce their marginal cost (ideally near or at zero $), then how would their success in decreasing this marginal cost be the end of capitalism.” Good question. This is the paradox of capitalism. As the the marginal cost approaches zero, it will eventually reach a point where goods essentially become free, abundant, and nearly everyone will have access to that good or service, and no longer subject to market forces. This is what the Internet has been continuously doing to information and knowledge. This lateral-distributed platform of the Internet has been creating an open source environment where people are increasingly bypassing commercial products and services. Businesses can’t compete with free or nearly-free shared information. Look what happened to the newspaper, encyclopedia, and book publishing industries, and it’s only the beginning. The Internet is democratizing power back to the people. With 3D printers and near-free renewable energy emerging, the same will start happening to physical goods. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au... “Any "jo-shmo" with a computer does not have the resources to compete with business using more funded, better technology to produce their good/service.”You’re right, Jo-schmo cannot compete against the Apple or Googles of the world; Obviously it’s impossible. You’re missing the point. The power comes from numbers. When a distributed network platform like the Internet allows millions of individuals to collaborate at near zero marginal cost, together they can create/design products or softwares that can be competitive with larger companies. Some great examples are Linux, Wikipedia, Craigslist, Couchsurfing, etc. More and more people are increasingly joining the collaborative social commons where they’re goal is not to compete, but to share. Additionally, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are becoming increasingly popular with sites such as IndieGoGo and Kickstarter, bypassing conventional work and financing. Many large traditional companies are now finding themselves trying to compete with these growing collaborative peer-to-peer communities and startups, instead of the other way around. Networks are gradually replacing hierarchies, and we’re moving away from market capital towards social capital. Today this growing “collaborative commons” makes up a significant part of the economy, but it's completely ignored in the national GDP. http://onthecommons.org... http://lawreview.uchicago.edu... “So while my opponent believe capitalism is dying, the reality is the companies in this capitalistic economy are shifting. Computer/Software companies are on the rise. While some companies may one day be able to operate solely on technology, and solar panels may help people save money, the people who sell and operate this technology are the new businesses.” Yes companies are shifting. But again you’re only thinking short term. Make no mistake, the transition to this Internet of Things economy over the next several decades will indeed create many new jobs and businesses in the process (mostly tech businesses). But once these new infrastructures of renewable energy, automation, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and other advancing technologies have been established and settled, it will be an endgame for most profits. People will quickly gravitate towards a sharing, collaborative economy not because they’re forced to, but because our technology will be so abundant, cheap, and efficient, that it would make no sense to sell each other products and profit off each other anymore, making capitalism obsolete. It sounds farfetched, but it’s simply technology’s productivity defeating capitalism in its own game in the long run. Most people can’t seem to grasp the power of exponential growth. It’s the reason why many of our electronic gadgets has become so cheap and ubiquitous. The same thing is happening with renewables, particularly solar panels. Just like cellphones, almost everyone will have solar panels on their homes, providing them with free energy to power their 3D printers, electric cars, etc. http://cleantechnica.com... How can a capitalist system continue if people are generating their own energy for free and sharing the excess, making and sharing their own physical goods and information, and collaborating? It will be a totally new paradigm and a shift of consciousness. Profit motives will simply subside and capitalism will outgrow itself. However, it’s not a shift from capitalism to socialism, rather we’re shifting to an economy that actually shares the best of both worlds, a decentralized-distributed-network economy where energy/technological abundance and automation will liberate people from repetitive work. People will have the time to do the things they’re passionate about and live a more purposeful life, rather than a life focused on material/wealth accumulation. This is the point where the majority of humanity will start to explore and discover. Is it Utopia? No, nothing is perfect in this world. 50 years ago people would’ve thought and felt the same way about our present state of technology and level of comfort.