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Wei_Dai comments on Non-Malthusian Scenarios - Less Wrong
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My guess is that Robin is talking about how the median entity, regardless of how much nonsentient capital it has for itself, will spend almost all the proceeds of that capital on reproduction, and very little on plasma TVs.
But plasma TVs, besides being a luxury, are also a form of signaling that helps attracting a mate, and increases social status in general (which improves reproduction). Maybe the right argument is not "non-human capital" but "signaling"?
I expect some signaling would be part of a subsistence lifestyle. But I don't expect 99% of spending to be on signaling.
I think spending 99% on signaling by definition (well, by most people's definition) wouldn't be a "subsistence lifestyle", so perhaps a better phrase would be "equilibrium lifestyle". But how sure are you that there isn't a high-signaling equilibrium? Maybe not 99%, but say >50%?