4 ms·
Respectfully I disagree with your assessments. Abolishing money does not need to exist only in a commune format; currency is a mode of exchange that exists bec
by rrivers 9y ago
Respectfully I disagree with your assessments.
Abolishing money does not need to exist only in a commune format; currency is a mode of exchange that exists because there is a natural scarcity of resources. Currency allows us all a medium to acquire what we want; usually as a result of personal investment of some source.
Star Trek, while imaginary, is a technological utopia and I would argue that we are not that far off from the beginning of that type of society. Since we're on HN i'll assume you're familiar with Kurzweil's Law of Accelerating Returns and the consistent and predictable exponential tech growth. As we make advances in energy, nanotech, robotics, and genetics the problems that plague society today won't be relevant to the people of tomorrow. If we aren't working towards Utopian society as a collective then the fault is ours, because working towards anything else is just a failure of imagination.
Of course this assumes the political will and foresight to address the challenges and growing pains that come along with the transition.
- WalterBright 9y agoPeople will always want more. It's just the way we are. Consider the state of the poor in the US today. It is far, far better by any measure than the state of the poor in medieval times, Roman times, etc. Yet the conventional opinion is it is not remotely good enough. By today's standards, the Star Trek universe is a utopia. But by the standards of the inhabitants of that universe, they may regard the state of their poor in crisis terms.