What (if anything) will replace capitalism and when?

[Cassandra]

My gut says capitalism will persist until our technological complex civilization is overwhelmed by the demons of its creation (climate change, soil degradation, pollution, etc.). Whatever simpler society arises from our ashes will need many generations of growth and strife before capital accumulates to a level sufficient for a new capitalism.

The observation that climate change is more of a threat to humanity than it is to nature comes to mind. What if the processes of capital accumulation become more resilient than we are?

I would characterize capital accumulation as a necessarily "human" process that a changing climate will shred along with the rest of our societies. If you're referencing the Silicon Valley dream of technological society birthing a world of AI and machines that will "surpass" us in their speed and efficiency at...well, at capital accumulation I suppose, I must say I have some questions. If the demiurge is to become fully embodied in silicone, copper, plastic and steel, will it not also be vulnerable to rising tides, dwindling mineral resources, and the mass deaths of its human servants?

[Benjamin Frank]

I would characterize capital accumulation as a necessarily "human" process that a changing climate will shred along with the rest of our societies. If you're referencing the Silicon Valley dream of technological society birthing a world of AI and machines that will "surpass" us in their speed and efficiency at...well, at capital accumulation I suppose, I must say I have some questions. If the demiurge is to become fully embodied in silicone, copper, plastic and steel, will it not also be vulnerable to rising tides, dwindling mineral resources, and the mass deaths of its human servants?

To be clear, I view it as a nightmare, but a plausible one. We already know that our machines have better prospects for escaping the surface of this planet than we do. Why couldn't the same apply to an earth coping with strained resources and tenuous conditions for human survival?

I don't trust my intuitions around questions of technological feasibility, so that's an uncertainty that I'm unprepared to comment on with any intelligence, but there's nothing contradictory about the idea of humans being outlasted by self-sustaining dynamic systems unleashed by our activities.

Robots will become more human like and humans will become more robot like.  We'll all more or less merge as cyborgs.  The robot apocalypse isn't something I worry about unless the notion of a cyborg to you is the death of humanity.

[Cassandra]

I would characterize capital accumulation as a necessarily "human" process that a changing climate will shred along with the rest of our societies. If you're referencing the Silicon Valley dream of technological society birthing a world of AI and machines that will "surpass" us in their speed and efficiency at...well, at capital accumulation I suppose, I must say I have some questions. If the demiurge is to become fully embodied in silicone, copper, plastic and steel, will it not also be vulnerable to rising tides, dwindling mineral resources, and the mass deaths of its human servants?

To be clear, I view it as a nightmare, but a plausible one. We already know that our machines have better prospects for escaping the surface of this planet than we do. Why couldn't the same apply to an earth coping with strained resources and tenuous conditions for human survival?

I don't trust my intuitions around questions of technological feasibility, so that's an uncertainty that I'm unprepared to comment on with any intelligence, but there's nothing contradictory about the idea of humans being outlasted by self-sustaining dynamic systems unleashed by our activities.

We certainly agree on this being a nightmare.

I should say one of my sources of skepticism comes from the same place that makes me doubt "renewables" are any sort of silver bullet. The mineral resources required to build solar panels, wind mills, and (most importantly) batteries are also non-renewable. Lithium, copper, manganese...these may seem "abundant" now, but I've seen work that suggests after the entire world switches from fossil fuels to these metals AND after decades more of capitalist growth, the stocks of some these resources may well begin to run out (in terms of what is economically feasible to recover).

As to your last point, that I think is correct in principle. I think the systems of coercion we labor under could be thought of in exactly your terms: "self-sustaining dynamic systems unleashed by our activities." That I suppose encapsulates why I used the word "demiurge" before. I just struggle to see the new technical layers these systems have been imported into lasting long without our inputs and maintenance.