I agree that the marginal value of money won’t be literally zero after TAI (in the growth scenario; if we’re all dead, then it is exactly equal to zero). But (if we still assume those two TAI scenarios are the only possible ones), on a per-dollar basis it will be much lower than today, which will massively skew the incentives for traders—in the face of uncertainty, they would need overwhelming evidence before making trades that pay off only after TAI. And importantly, if you disagree with this and believe the marginal utility of money won’t change radically, then that further undermines the point made in the original post, since their entire argument relies on the change in marginal utility—you can’t have it both ways! (why would you posit that consumers change their savings rate when there is still benefits from being richer?)
Still, I see your point that even in such a world, there’s a difference between being a trillionaire, or a quadrillionaire. If there are quadrillion-dollar profits to be made, then yes, you will get those chains of backwards induction up and working again. But I find that scenario very implausible, so in reality I don’t think this is an important consideration.
I agree that the marginal value of money won’t be literally zero after TAI (in the growth scenario; if we’re all dead, then it is exactly equal to zero). But (if we still assume those two TAI scenarios are the only possible ones), on a per-dollar basis it will be much lower than today, which will massively skew the incentives for traders—in the face of uncertainty, they would need overwhelming evidence before making trades that pay off only after TAI. And importantly, if you disagree with this and believe the marginal utility of money won’t change radically, then that further undermines the point made in the original post, since their entire argument relies on the change in marginal utility—you can’t have it both ways! (why would you posit that consumers change their savings rate when there is still benefits from being richer?)
Still, I see your point that even in such a world, there’s a difference between being a trillionaire, or a quadrillionaire. If there are quadrillion-dollar profits to be made, then yes, you will get those chains of backwards induction up and working again. But I find that scenario very implausible, so in reality I don’t think this is an important consideration.