After Money: Transactions in an Infinite Economy
After Money: Transactions in an Infinite Economy FutureScape Universe: The Game Beneath the Game, Part II For thousands of years, humanity has organized civilization around one fundamental assumption: There isn't enough. Not enough land. Not enough food. Not enough energy. Not enough housing. Not enough resources. Not enough time. And because there supposedly isn't enough, civilization requires mechanisms for deciding who gets what. We invented prices. Markets. Banks. Credit. Interest. Insurance. Finance. Economics. Lotteries. Casinos. Stock markets. Futures markets. Derivatives. Entire intellectual and commercial ecosystems emerged around one central problem: How do you allocate scarce things among competing humans? But what happens when the premise changes? What happens when civilization reaches the point where energy becomes extraordinarily abundant, automation performs most necessary labor, manufacturing becomes increasingly autonomous, resources can be recovere...