link to original reddit post by /u/derplesmcderp

Collectivists appear to be united in the belief that all individuals should have their needs met. Call these Basic Needs. This often manifests in beliefs and support for programs such as:

  • Universal healthcare
  • Universal basic income
  • Guaranteed housing

I propose a thought experiment:

Premise:

A. For some quantity of resources, there is a stable population quantity that can be sustained by those resources. (See carrying capacity) Refer to the resources needed to sustain one person as R. B. The speed of light cannot be exceeded, even by non-conventional ("FTL") means.

Therefore:

  1. A population of size X requires a minimum of X * R resources in total.
  2. If we assume all needs are met, people have children and the population grows to X+N such that N is positive.
  3. The process above repeats until X * R reaches the maximum available resources. Call this MaxR.
  4. (2) is still true when X * R = MaxR.
  5. To prevent the breakdown of Basic Needs, the following options are available: a. Enforce population control (i.e. stop having children) b. Increase resource availability.
  6. Choose path 5.a: Collectivism must be defined as a death cult, and is therefore, by definition, anti-human.
  7. Choose path 5.b: This strategy largely succeeds for as long as the resource collection rate can outpace population growth. However, this becomes increasingly difficult as human population follows geometric growth, but we are limited in how quickly resources can travel across space. While logistics pipelines between Mars and Earth are conceivable, the 200+ year round-trip journey to Alpha Centauri (on as-yet unbuilt and still theoretical spacecraft) is far less conceivable as a reliable resource pool in the next few centuries.*

(*) Even if we assume nuclear propulsion can reach Alpha Centauri, it's likely the trip will still take 100 years. Since human generational cycles are an order of magnitude shorter, it is highly improbable that a starship can fly to Alpha Centauri, and return 200 years later with enough resources to sustain the newly born population. Even if it's conceivable to establish a pipeline of hundreds of thousands of these ships, the resources to undertake such a program would dramatically cut into any Basic Needs program.

In Conclusion:

Collectivists either believe that humanity will, in a very short number of centuries, figure out how to collect resources effectively from light-years away, OR they plan to participate in a death cult.

While the "answer" to this thought experiment might seem obvious, consider the terrifying implications: If we assume collectivists are not anti-human, then they all participate in a religion contingent on a very specific technology manifesting over a specifically short timeline. And yet, this appears to be completely counter to what many collectivists believe about space travel in general, in that it's a waste of resources. One such example to highlight: https://theappalachianonline.com/opinion-spending-on-space-is-wasteful/ although finding more examples is as easy as browsing Reddit.

Collectivists appear to be in a very tough spot. They either must engage in anti-human behavior or be so voraciously pro-spaceflight so as to scare Aerospace engineers. I have not observed the latter, so can only assume the former at present.