You have a point, although I suspect you'd end up with a division in mindshare between 'synth gold' and 'real gold', which might complicate the matter. But I w

You have a point, although I suspect you'd end up with a division in mindshare between 'synth gold' and 'real gold', which might complicate the matter. But I was thinking more along the lines that people will be constantly trying to invent replacements for oil and more cost effective food stuffs, whereas there's far less need for a replacement for gold (or gold mining). Besides, I imagine even if we did invent a replicator, it would still need the raw material input so it wouldn't really affect the demand for gold. It would just effect how much land we need to grow food and things like that.