This is why I don’t take promises of a post-scarcity society very seriously. They seem to think in terms of leaps in production technology, as if the key to ending scarcity is producing lots and lots of stuff. But scarcity is the presence of alternative uses, not the presence of want, and making lots of stuff does nothing to address the former per se. Picard, who can make as much tea as he wants in his replicator, must still make choices.
This seems a little unfair to me. When we speak of a post-scarcity society, it is one where you do not have to make a choice between feeding yourself and feeding your children. If you still have to make a choice between eating chocolate cake or eating ravioli, well… there’s a sense in which these choices are the same, but I think the way in which they’re different is more important.
This seems a little unfair to me. When we speak of a post-scarcity society, it is one where you do not have to make a choice between feeding yourself and feeding your children. If you still have to make a choice between eating chocolate cake or eating ravioli, well… there’s a sense in which these choices are the same, but I think the way in which they’re different is more important.
From the economic perspective… there’s absolutely no difference between...
choosing between feeding or clothing your children
choosing which bundle of genetic traits your children will have
The rules/laws of economics don’t change just because you change the variables.
Then many societies throughout history have been post-scarcity...any semblance of civilization has passed such harsh subsistence long while back.