Proof of Abundance… And How to Survive It

By Peter Diamandis:

1. Renewables Hit the Halfway Mark

Renewables just crossed 49.4% of global electricity capacity. Let me say that again: nearly half of all electricity generation capacity on Earth is now renewable. Solar drove 75% of new additions, bringing the total to 5.15 terawatts. We’re at the halfway mark and the curve is accelerating. This isn’t some future projection. This is today. The energy transition is already here.

2. Lithium Battery Prices:

In 1991, a lithium battery cost $10,000. And today? Less than $100. That’s a 99% price drop. Remember all those conversations about whether we could afford enough batteries to electrify transportation? Those are ancient history. The market solved it. Scale solved it. Technology solved it. And we’re not done: new battery chemistries are coming that will drive costs even lower. Every electric vehicle on the road is proof that Abundance doesn’t require central planning. It requires innovation and competition.

3. Lab-Grown Diamonds Below $1,000

The average price of a two-carat lab-grown diamond has fallen below $1,000: down 80% since January 2020. Compare that to a natural diamond at $22,000 to $28,000 for the same size. So much for De Beers. And yes, De Beers’ 3-months-salary campaign was one of the most successful PR brain-washings in history. They convinced generations that scarcity equals value. But technology doesn’t care about marketing. Lab-grown diamonds are chemically identical, optically perfect, and produced without child labor. Abundance wins.

4. AI Created 640,000 New Jobs

AI created 640,000 new jobs in the United States between 2023 and 2025, mostly in categories that didn’t exist three years ago. Not replacing jobs. Creating jobs. This is the pattern we’ve seen with every major technology transition: short-term disruption, long-term expansion. The printing press, the steam engine, electricity, the internet – all of them were supposed to end work. All of them created more opportunity than they destroyed. AI is no different. The question isn’t whether jobs will exist. It’s whether you’re building skills for the new categories or clinging to the old ones.

5. Robots + AI = Energy Abundance / The Maximo Robot

I LOVE this story… four Maximo robots are installing 100 megawatts of solar capacity in the California desert at one panel per minute. Think about that for a second. Robots deploying renewable energy autonomously, at scale, faster than humans ever could. Once you get robots, energy, and AI all reinforcing one another, Abundance stops being theoretical. It becomes mechanical. Inevitable.

And this isn’t just a Western phenomenon. Pakistan is now generating most of its energy via solar. Solar is exploding across Africa. This is global. This is real. This is happening whether you’re paying attention or not.

The Pattern

Abundance is a pattern across multiple domains: Materials. Manufacturing. Employment. Computation. Every one of them follows the same trajectory: exponential improvement, collapsing costs, expanding access. That’s not coincidence. That’s the signature of our exponential times, the signature of increasing Abundance.

But here’s perhaps the most important question:

How does society design institutions that distribute this Abundance in a reasonable way?

Technology creates Abundance. Institutions decide who captures it. Markets, governments, legal frameworks: those are the systems that determine whether Abundance pools at the top or spreads broadly. We have the technology.

Do we have the wisdom to build institutions that match it?

The Choice

Abundance isn’t coming. It’s in the data, right now. Renewables at 50% capacity. Batteries down 99%. Diamonds at $1,000. AI creating jobs. Robots building infrastructure.

The only question is whether you see it or whether you’re still watching the Crisis News Network.

I choose to see it. I choose to build for it. I choose to believe that we’re living through the most extraordinary moment in human history – not in spite of the challenges, but because of them.

This is what breakthroughs look like. This is what the future arriving ahead of schedule looks like. And if you’re paying attention, you can see it everywhere.

- Peter