From the Scarcity to the Positive Abundance System: Solar Energy, Automation, and the Self-Domestication of Humankind as Drivers of a Transition to a Post-Capitalist Post-Scarcity Society — A Positive Abundance and a Positive Future for People, Natur

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Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-09-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21627611
Primary Topic
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
Type
article
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article

From the Scarcity to the Positive Abundance System: Solar Energy, Automation, and the Self-Domestication of Humankind as Drivers of a Transition to a Post-Capitalist Post-Scarcity Society — A Positive Abundance and a Positive Future for People, Natur

Jan Zelenák
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
article

From the Scarcity to the Positive Abundance System: Solar Energy, Automation, and the Self-Domestication of Humankind as Drivers of a Transition to a Post-Capitalist Post-Scarcity Society — A Positive Abundance and a Positive Future for People, Natur

Jan Zelenák
article en

Abstract

This working paper develops an integrated forecasting model for the transition of human societies from a scarcity system to an abundance system. Its starting point is that solar electricity follows a stable learning curve and is already the cheapest form of power generation. From near-zero-cost energy the paper derives - via automation, AI and closed material cycles - a decline of the marginal costs of key goods towards zero, so that money loses its function as the manager of scarcity. Three dynamics commonly read as threats are shown to be self-limiting: superfluous positional consumption, the population explosion (via the demographic transition), and interpersonal violence (primarily as a cultural civilising process; a genetic self-domestication component is treated as an uncertain, subordinate supplement). The favourable dynamics hold only within three boundary conditions - planetary boundaries, control over the orchestrating AI, and geopolitical justice between world regions - and raise inner questions of meaning, justice and macroeconomic stability. The technical transition appears largely determined over 80-120 years; what remains open and normative is solely its distribution - peaceful or contested. If the boundary conditions are respected, the model describes a positive abundance and thus a positive future for people, for nature and for the Earth: people are freed from want and compulsory labour, nature regains land and intact material cycles, and the Earth is relieved, because solar energy replaces fossil combustion and waste disappears into closed loops. The paper closes with a framework for action (five guiding principles and 17 sequenced steps for global organizations, states and communities). Editions in twelve languages are included in this record: English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Dutch, Italian, Russian, Korean and Arabic. Scenario-based long-range forecast combined with established research; predictive and normative statements are marked as such. This record contains the working paper in twelve languages: English, German („Vom Knappheits- zum positiven Überflusssystem"), Spanish, French, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Dutch, Italian, Russian, Korean and Arabic. Version 1.2 (September 2026) adds the six last-named language editions of both works; the text itself is unchanged from version 1.1, which added Section 2.8 on Schumpeterian dynamics, complexity economics and open innovation and updated the literature in Sections 2.2, 2.3 and 5.2. The translations from the English edition are the author's own and have not been reviewed by native speakers. v9 (1.2): Both works added in six further languages — Portuguese (Brazilian), Dutch, Italian, Russian, Korean and Arabic — bringing the record to twelve languages. All files now carry a language prefix (DE_, EN_, …). Text unchanged from 1.1; one typesetting fix in the English working paper (Section 2.4: two words had run together). Translations are the author's own and not reviewed by native speakers.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 48%
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
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