[This an original thought-piece by the author]

I've been making software long enough to not get high on my own supply. The supply for geek wet-dream about a world run by abundance-based singularity.

Capitalism is still foundational; that free app running on your phone still reads from a server someone is paying for to run in a data center air-conditioned by the power company that trades energy futures. Capitalism seems to be the best system in town and it's not going away. Look for further than Thwaites' toaster.

The fact that it's the best system we know of doesn't mean there isn't a better one. If the best economic system we know of produces the likes of Jho Low, we know it's rigged beyond repair.

There is no indisputable proof that capitalism is a prerequisite for techniums to expand.

It only means there is a great fight ahead. Techno-masturbation isn't gonna get us there. My guess is we need several advances on a Bitcoin-level in order to break out of capitalism in a foundational way.

(As a side-note I think Chinese is in the worst position to come up with an alternative, given their tendency to think inside the box of money.)

Scarcity is the major cockblock towards advancing civilization. Capitalism runs on scarcity.

Doing business is largely an exchange of scarce items. Capitalism is largely made out of businesses. Therein lies the annoying, unspoken value disparity between the suits and the geeks, but that's another story.

To move beyond capitalism, scarcity is enemy number one. Therefore every true technologists' mission should be to increase abundance.

Software is ground-zero for abundance.