Rethinking the Product Lifecycle: How Post-Growth Economics Can Enable a Viable UBI
Introduction:
In a post-growth economy, the traditional product lifecycle is reimagined to prioritize sustainability and circularity. This new approach encourages companies to design and produce products that meet real needs, rather than perpetuating artificial demand through planned obsolescence. In this blog post, we'll explore the post-growth product lifecycle and its potential to enable a viable UBI through market efficiency collapse.
The Post-Growth Product Lifecycle:
The post-growth product lifecycle consists of six stages:
- Inspiration Phase: Idea generation and design focused on meeting real needs.
- Realization Phase: Product development, refinement, and scaling.
- Saturation Phase: Global demand is met, and the market is saturated.
- Stewardship Phase: Emphasis shifts to maintenance, repair, upgrading, and modular additions.
- Wind-Down or Modularity Pivot: Companies either downscale, become ecosystem curators, or pivot to modular "DLC" (Downloadable Content) models.
- Liberation Phase: The product's life cycle concludes, and resources are released for new creations.
This lifecycle encourages sustainable design and production, fosters a culture of enough, and enables companies to adapt and evolve in a post-growth economy.
Mandatory Forever Products:
By mandating "forever products" – i.e., outlawing planned obsolescence – we eliminate one of capitalism's major engines of artificial demand. Without short product lifespans, companies must compete in a market where real demand plateaus. This forces a race to minimal-margin efficiency, making high-quality goods and services structurally cheaper.
The Knock-On Effect:
The knock-on effect of mandatory forever products is profound: Universal Basic Income (UBI) or Universal Basic Commons (UBC) becomes vastly more affordable. The economy's lower bound – the floor of the doughnut – is easier to meet for all, since provisioning cost shrinks while product longevity and repairability grow.
Conclusion:
The post-growth product lifecycle and mandatory forever products have the potential to enable a viable UBI through market efficiency collapse. By reimagining the product lifecycle and prioritizing sustainability and circularity, we can create a more equitable and efficient economy that benefits all. As we continue to explore the possibilities of post-growth economics, it's essential to consider the potential of these concepts to create a better future for all.
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