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[Urist McScoopbeard]

I was saying that a shift to a post-capitalist society will be fought by corporations, whether the people working for those corps want it or not, because that is what the logic of corporate existence demands. Having them able to more or less buy elections just makes the endgame scarier, neutering them now will pay off when we have to deal with them later.

I agree. In my edit, I mention how actual perfection of a system is practically impossible. There will never be a world without some kind of economy. However, your postulation provokes an interesting question. Yes. If we are to look at each company as its own being, then yes the logic of that being would be to preserve its existence. BUT, only so long as it's constituent workers are reliant on its success (like cells in your body) otherwise the being would cease to exist, no? Lets just say, if every corporation in the world was presented at the exact same time with the opportunity to produce every possible product in unlimited amounts right now, someone would take it, would they not? If so, then by necessity other companies would need also to produce unlimited amounts of high-quality goods to continue to exist... but at that point, there is no natural need for their constituent workers to need them so everything just collapses and everyone has everything. Of course, artificial demand could be created... but since every company has the ability to generate unlimited goods, they could always be undercutting the costs of anyone who tried to do so.

Again. A perfect scenario, impossible, but could we as a society approach is asymptotically?

[i2amroy]

I agree. In my edit, I mention how actual perfection of a system is practically impossible. There will never be a world without some kind of economy. However, your postulation provokes an interesting question. Yes. If we are to look at each company as its own being, then yes the logic of that being would be to preserve its existence. BUT, only so long as it's constituent workers are reliant on its success (like cells in your body) otherwise the being would cease to exist, no? Lets just say, if every corporation in the world was presented at the exact same time with the opportunity to produce every possible product in unlimited amounts right now, someone would take it, would they not? If so, then by necessity other companies would need also to produce unlimited amounts of high-quality goods to continue to exist... but at that point, there is no natural need for their constituent workers to need them so everything just collapses and everyone has everything. Of course, artificial demand could be created... but since every company has the ability to generate unlimited goods, they could always be undercutting the costs of anyone who tried to do so.

i2amroy opens shop up in the old fashioned style, proclaiming "hand made goods" and making tons of money off the doubters of the new method.

[Rolepgeek]

Interesting enough to watch.

[Reelya]

^ Automated post update watching. See? Machines are taking over.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

[martinuzz]

In some economic news, the US company Qualcomm, the third largest chip producer in the world, bought my hometown's company NXP, 7th largest chip producer and world market leader in automotive chips (from chips for aitconditioning and the rear mirror to the chips used in Google car and other robot vehicles), for 43 billion euros. This is nearly double the amount (27 billion euros) that was rumoured last month, when word of plans for a take-over first came out. Multiple other parties being interested seems to have driven the price up quite a bit, to NXP's benefit.

It's a big change for Qualcomm, which designs chips, but up until now, did not produce hem themselves (they outsourced all production). With the acquisition of NXP they gain 7 chip producing factories. The automotive chips are also new for them. With this acquisition they want to future proof their company, as they saw sales of other chips deteriorate, with the market being oversaturated.
40% of NXP's profits are made in the automotive industry. Smart cars worldwide rely on it's chips. Next to that, they produce chips for credit cards, wireless payment chips, public transport chip cards, and building access cards.

I'm not sure if I'm happy for it or not. There's some communalism in me that tells me to stop selling every darn succesful tech company from my home town to foreign bidders (Oh Philips why hath thou forsaken us). Then again, there's many succesful US / Dutch partnerships in the tech branch so it should be fine. As long as they don't tear down all factories here and move them to India or whatever other highly-educated-but-cheap workforce country.

EDIT: so yeah, any forumite with tech background interested should check for job openings in the Netherlands. I'm sure the new owners will want to employ some US citizens abroad. Tech branch pays well. Healthcare is awesome. Nearly everyone over age 12 speaks english.

[Reelya]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/28/13463236/tesla-solar-roof-battery-new-elon-musk
The solar roof idea is something I've hoping for, for a long time. Clearly this looks a lot better than bolting panels on:

[Akura]

Solar panel roof? Fine. Solar panel driveway? Fine pieces of glass in your tires.

Also, what architect designed that house? I see no bathroom, no kitchen, and no stairway to access the second-floor bedroom.

[Max™]

Making glass which is capable of withstanding highway traffic is something we can do, handling parking is nothing.

[TheBiggerFish]

Glasphalt exists.

[BorkBorkGoesTheCode]

Solar panel roof? Fine. Solar panel driveway? Fine pieces of glass in your tires.

Also, what architect designed that house? I see no bathroom, no kitchen, and no stairway to access the second-floor bedroom.

It's not a second floor, it's a high ceiling. Zoom in.

[Reelya]

Found a good one:

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/11/05/0434217/a-new-process-turns-sewage-into-crude-oil

The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has found a way to potentially produce 30 million barrels of biocrude oil per year from the 34 billion gallons of raw sewage that Americans create every day... The raw sewage is placed in a reactor that's basically a tube pressurized to 3,000 pounds per square inch and heated to 660 degrees Fahrenheit, which mimics the same geological process that turned prehistoric organic matter into crude oil by breaking it down into simple compounds, only...it takes minutes instead of epochs... The end product is very similar to fossil crude oil with a bit of oxygen and water mixed in and can be refined like crude oil using conventional fractionating plants.

But honestly, who'd actually want to run their car on this shit?

Digital flavors for VR, dieting or just snacks I guess.
Intel makes drones that act like fireworks for displays

[The Beast]

Fully immersive VR is the game of life.
You just cant change avatar or plot after selection, just improve the base experience.

[Reelya]

Well you could use that argument against anything at all, reading books for example.

[Starver]

Found a good one:

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/11/05/0434217/a-new-process-turns-sewage-into-crude-oil

The U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has found a way to potentially produce 30 million barrels of biocrude oil per year from the 34 billion gallons of raw sewage that Americans create every day... The raw sewage is placed in a reactor that's basically a tube pressurized to 3,000 pounds per square inch...

Pressurised? I can only imagine how much they don't want their sludge to come into contact with their fan...

...and heated to 660 degrees Fahrenheit,

Well, that's convinced me. It now sounds like really hot s...tuff.