This doesn't make economic sense. Yes, it's possible for speculative trading to create paper profits that don't really exist, but every good has to have an ultimate consumer for the concept of value added to make sense.
Also, as food is necessary for life, people are willing to spend their last dollars to obtain it, making its manufacture profitable. A company could have made profit providing food to the last man who couldn't find it.
TL;DR: (1) it's not speculative trading and paper profits, it's closed loops forming where real goods are traded. (2) Remember that the assumption is that the AIs start owning resources and money at some point. Even though humans are willing to pay all their money to stop agriculture being eliminated, eventually the AIs have enough spending power to outbid even the desperate humans Yes, this has to go very extreme before even billionaires don't have enough spending power. But also remember that this is a story that specifically tries to illustrate the most extreme possible outcome.
See here for some interesting comments on the realism of this story: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pk9mofif2jWbc6Tv3/fiction-a-disneyland-without-children?commentId=hfqYFdycEo3WvZDqx
This doesn't make economic sense. Yes, it's possible for speculative trading to create paper profits that don't really exist, but every good has to have an ultimate consumer for the concept of value added to make sense.
Also, as food is necessary for life, people are willing to spend their last dollars to obtain it, making its manufacture profitable. A company could have made profit providing food to the last man who couldn't find it.
I responded to similar questions here: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pk9mofif2jWbc6Tv3/fiction-a-disneyland-without-children?commentId=hfqYFdycEo3WvZDqx
TL;DR: (1) it's not speculative trading and paper profits, it's closed loops forming where real goods are traded. (2) Remember that the assumption is that the AIs start owning resources and money at some point. Even though humans are willing to pay all their money to stop agriculture being eliminated, eventually the AIs have enough spending power to outbid even the desperate humans Yes, this has to go very extreme before even billionaires don't have enough spending power. But also remember that this is a story that specifically tries to illustrate the most extreme possible outcome.
What a great story! This is the scenario I'm most worried about; in my gut it feels like the most realistic future 🙁
Have you read "Friendship is Optimal: Caelum est Conterrens? It's based on the story, Friendship is Optimal, but is a better story IMO
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/69770/friendship-is-optimal-caelum-est-conterrens