I don't know the current costs of automated farming and electricity generation well enough to know how close we are to this; I welcome other people with figures. (@perrymetzger?)
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My suspicion, however, is that automated farming driven by renewable energy will be practical for agriculture corporations before it's practical for household autarkists. (Just as computers were worth investing in for companies before they were cost-effective for individuals.)
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Replying to @s_r_constantin @perrymetzger
My experience with industrial automation is that a big part of the question of how well this works is how much manual maintenance and repair is required. To what degree is your job now "robot repair technician"? How many hours does it need? Can anyone learn the skills?
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Quality of maintenance documentation is highly relevant. This is also a reason it won't scale down well, at least early: big automated systems are only a little harder to maintain than small ones.
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Replying to @evanbd @s_r_constantin
Yah, and one then has the question, if you have enough capital to build yourself an automated farm, might it not be cheaper still to invest that capital and buy from a larger, more specialized and more efficient automated farm instead of running your own?
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Replying to @perrymetzger @s_r_constantin
Yes, that's the obvious followup. Or to join up in a commune and distribute roles among the members. At what point are you just running a town or company?
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I think it's worth asking *exactly* what problem you're trying to solve. You're not going fully escape the larger economy. You won't make your own microcontrollers and stepper motors and aluminum extrusions.
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But you can reduce your dependence on it. What the best way to do that is, will depend on *why* you want to do that. You could probably insulate yourself from broader economic trends, for example.
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You could do it because you think it is interesting in its own right, but even then there are probably pieces that are more or less interesting to you personally.
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A minor point, but not irrelevant: if you're making your own food and eating it, you don't have to pay yourself a salary on that time and pay taxes on it. As soon as you scale even a little bit, that advantage evaporates.
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In my model, I'm assuming the only goal is "to not have to work for wages." People who like self-sufficiency for its own sake are already doing it (there are preppers and sustainable-farming people.)
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Replying to @s_r_constantin @evanbd
If you have enough capital, you can invest it and not work for wages. If it's enough to buy equipment to make most of what you need, it's probably enough to invest. Generally: I think people thinking about self-sufficiency underestimate how important the division of labor is.
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The division of labor is an amazing way to lower costs. If you have to do everything yourself, your costs are going to be much higher, which means you probably need far more capital to start with.
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