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I have enjoyed both "Star Trek" and Asimov's robot and Foundation novels. However, in the capitalist economy, when productivity greatly surpasses demand to the point that profitability suffers, the producers simply reduce production of that item.
And there really is not such a thing as a pure service economy; the basis of any economy is always production. If you want to look at what happens when the wealth production engine of an economy disappears, simply look at any western ghost town, or the "zombie" cities in states like Ohio.
It's certainly possible that things will turn out like you imagine, but it's also possible that we'd transition out of a capitalist economy. I mean, if humanity could have endless amounts of everything it wanted, but instead everyone lives in abject poverty due to capitalism, would capitalism really endure? We're already transitioning to an economy of ideas and services which have low capital cost, so perhaps it's possible?
I don't agree with you about production economy. Someday we'll probably have endless robots to do all production, and services will be the only remaining economy.
It's certainly possible that things will turn out like you imagine, but it's also possible that we'd transition out of a capitalist economy. I mean, if humanity could have endless amounts of everything it wanted, but instead everyone lives in abject poverty due to capitalism, would capitalism really endure? We're already transitioning to an economy of ideas and services which have low capital cost, so perhaps it's possible?
I don't agree with you about production economy. Someday we'll probably have endless robots to do all production, and services will be the only remaining economy.
Do the raw materials that are necessary for production just sort of appear, like manna from heaven?
Do the raw materials that are necessary for production just sort of appear, like manna from heaven?
Ownership of a mine is capital, not labor. But yeah, it's possible we end up in a situation where labor has no value, but capital does, so the billionaires who own the mines and oil wells sell things to each other while everyone else lives on the dole, shut out of the economy.
So what about living? If everything is provided for, who determines who gets to live in the nice waterfront places and who gets to live in the smaller ranchers? Who gets the mountain views and who gets the views and noise of the highway? Or does everything get torn down and we all get provided 1 100 sq ft living space with no windows so everything gets equal?
If food is provided, who determines who gets the finer cuts of meat and who gets the scraps, or is it all just ground into hamburger?
As far as production, what would give somebody the incentive to work harder to manufacture product x when the next group of people are having such an easier time making product y?
What about luxury's? Who determines who gets what? Or are we not supposed to have any?
What about "toys" to enjoy your free time? Boats, yachts, classic cars, planes, etc... High end luxury's. I guess all means of producing them will cease. After all, why bother spending the time manufacturing items such as that if you don't get compensated?
Why bother improving on anything afterall because there is no reason to strive to do better without compensation? Why bust your but when everyone else is getting the same thing.
So, since production will be down and practically non-existent who determines who works what jobs when there is no incentive for people to volunteer other then to get their weekly allowance of ground meat, vegatable of the week (those which are in a glut), crowd into the automated box bus (windowless) to get to your grey walls surrounding your 100sq ft of living space and laying in your plywood bed to watch the government run program of the day on "your" 17" tv.
Well I mean, you're hitting on some of the problems. If robots can build as many yachts as anyone would want and require no compensation in return, why charge for them? Why will anyone bother to do things? I guess many people would just sit around and watch TV all day, while the achievers work for the enjoyment of it. I mean, people will all be poets, rock climbers, explorers, scientists or whatever interests them, or nothing at all. Nobody will work solely because they're compelled to, but only because they enjoy it.
If it helps, I think the capitalist dystopia where the 1%ers live lives of luxury (as they do now) while the valueless Others live on meager rations for want of jobs is much more likely than a post-scarcity utopia.
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