Delete comment from: Captain Capitalism
In a post-scarcity economy, some things are still scarce.
Take time for example. You're going to the free theme park, but you're not alone since it's a sunny day and there is a line-up. You can wait 1 hour to get in, or you can PAY to pass in front of other people and save some time. Wait in line? That 1 hour will never be refunded to you. It's spent.
Another example is real estate, site, location. Sure everyone can now afford a super big house with a lawn, but what if your ideal is smelling saltwater and pines in the morning? Problem is, the whole coast has been built up, and to live in one of that houses by the seaside you need to displace someone. How can you do that? Pay for it. Buy the ideal spot.
Another example is uniqueness. You can download a million songs for free, but that guy across the street has paid for something you'll never have -- a private show in his living room by the members of U2.
Now you're taking a virtual/online art course at the university and you have the choice -- an AI teacher that'll do a pretty good job at teaching you techniques and creative approaches. Or a real/human teacher in real-time who'll interact you and challenge you in ways an AI won't be able to.
Another example? Bandwidth. Let's say people use very powerful mainframe computers to explore virtual worlds for various reasons -- leisure, creativity, psychology, socializing, etc. These virtual worlds are ranked by qualities such as "lag", "physics model" and "pixel resolution". And of course the higher the qualities, the higher the required bandwidth and energy consumption. As soon an any experience, be it physical or virtual, can have different degrees or qualities to it, then it is possible to assign it a value and hence, a price.
We could find at least a dozen other examples of "commodities" or "services" that would have a value in a post-scarcity world.
Oct 29, 2016, 7:04:11 AM
Posted to Why Post-Scarcity Economics is Scary