the end of money
Jan. 16th, 2003 10:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eFor a long time money has been a useful tool, however it might soon become far less important, and may even disappear altogether:
There are a number of people working on creating what are effectively 'replicator' machines which can build any object. There are already primitive versions that are used for prototyping objects for manufacture. But the new machines currently in development are much more sophisticated and will replace assembly lines. The real revolution will begin when somebody uses a replicator to build another replicator; then everything will change overnight. After that money will be needed for just land, human services, energy, and food.
When replicators become sophisticated enough to make food then the awful burden we put on the world's ecologies will be relieved. The oceans can regenerate and vast tracts of land under cultivation will be released back to the other living things we share this planet with. Using replicators for food also means money will only be needed for land, human services, and energy.
Due to better design, equipment is becoming more energy efficient. My little PalmVx computer can run for the best part of a month on a trickle of power, if I hardly use it. If I use it lots then it will still last several days before it needs recharging. This cute little machine has capabilities far greater than those of computers that used to occupy entire floors of buildings and required kilowatts of power. This trend is enhanced and supplemented by the recent troubles in the mid-east which promise to make the world more independent of oil (at long last) using alternative sources of energy, including non-polluting hydrogen power. We already have watches that use the body heat of the wearer as their power source. Eventually I expect greater use to be made of the sun and ambient energy for powering far more efficient devices. That will reduce the requirement for money to just land and human services.
Two things will remove human services from the money equation. The first is the development of artificial intelligence and robots. The second is the increasing tendency of people these days to give things away. For the first time in history large numbers of people are so well off that they can afford to do things simply because they want to. In times past it was only the very wealthy who could do that, so most artistic and scientific advancement depended upon them. The growth of Open Source is testament to the human desire to do great things without regard to financial reward.
That just leaves land as the only necessity that requires money. But as people's standard of living rises then population growth drops -- a well-documented effect. When we are all living well I expect there will be enough land for all. There is also the fact that virtual reality (VR) lets us build limitless numbers of infinite universes... but I shall leave that discussion till later.
There are a number of people working on creating what are effectively 'replicator' machines which can build any object. There are already primitive versions that are used for prototyping objects for manufacture. But the new machines currently in development are much more sophisticated and will replace assembly lines. The real revolution will begin when somebody uses a replicator to build another replicator; then everything will change overnight. After that money will be needed for just land, human services, energy, and food.
When replicators become sophisticated enough to make food then the awful burden we put on the world's ecologies will be relieved. The oceans can regenerate and vast tracts of land under cultivation will be released back to the other living things we share this planet with. Using replicators for food also means money will only be needed for land, human services, and energy.
Due to better design, equipment is becoming more energy efficient. My little PalmVx computer can run for the best part of a month on a trickle of power, if I hardly use it. If I use it lots then it will still last several days before it needs recharging. This cute little machine has capabilities far greater than those of computers that used to occupy entire floors of buildings and required kilowatts of power. This trend is enhanced and supplemented by the recent troubles in the mid-east which promise to make the world more independent of oil (at long last) using alternative sources of energy, including non-polluting hydrogen power. We already have watches that use the body heat of the wearer as their power source. Eventually I expect greater use to be made of the sun and ambient energy for powering far more efficient devices. That will reduce the requirement for money to just land and human services.
Two things will remove human services from the money equation. The first is the development of artificial intelligence and robots. The second is the increasing tendency of people these days to give things away. For the first time in history large numbers of people are so well off that they can afford to do things simply because they want to. In times past it was only the very wealthy who could do that, so most artistic and scientific advancement depended upon them. The growth of Open Source is testament to the human desire to do great things without regard to financial reward.
That just leaves land as the only necessity that requires money. But as people's standard of living rises then population growth drops -- a well-documented effect. When we are all living well I expect there will be enough land for all. There is also the fact that virtual reality (VR) lets us build limitless numbers of infinite universes... but I shall leave that discussion till later.
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no subject
Date: 2003-01-16 07:40 am (UTC)In my little piece on efficient home design I (unclearly) meant that having kids running through a kitchen was inviting accidents. That was the reason for making the kitchen a dead-end, with just the one doorway. Ventilation is no problem -- ceiling fans and windows can do that well enough. I am very much in favor of having kids in any part of the house where they can learn, including the kitchen, but running through it on their way to somewhere else is a great way to get a pot of boiling water spilled... on them.
I am sorry, but I have to disagree completely with your dismissal of most folk. I have expressed so many times to friends that I don't know any "normal" people, that I think if I really met one they would be so bizarre that paradoxically they would be anything but normal.
I have worked in retail and many jobs where I had to deal with ordinary folk. I have come to the conclusion that pretty-much everybody is weird. The thing is though, that they only let you see part of them, and worse, you only get to see what you are willing to look for. It is like a contract -- you (non-verbally) tell them that you find them interesting and cool, and they open up to show you their wondrous stuff inside; you let them know (body language again) that you think they are one of the despised "normal" tribe and they exile you and treat you with the same outsider coldness -- they are in and you are out, and you have all your worst suspicions confirmed.
But in reality we are all weird -- you just have to find their bright, glinting cracks in that facade they've put up for protection. If you let them know you're interested they will give you a guided tour of the most colorful rainbows shining from those cracks. Most of those house-mortgaged, 2.2-childed, Ray Martin-loving people are actually wonderfully crazy nuts.