From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com)
Date: Fri Aug 27 1999 - 05:40:20 MDT
On Fri, 27 Aug 1999, Technotranscendence wrote:
>
> Information might still be traded.
>
Yes, and people do pay for the quality and timeliness of their information.
But, unless the information is controlled by a proprietary information
agreement, it rapidly flows downhill. Astronomers -> Journals/Press
releases -> public. It doesn't take long, the only problem is having
it interpreted correctly.
> And nanotech, itself, will not abolish scarcity.
To assert this you have to qualify it.
Nantechnology as currently envisioned *will* ABOLISH scarcity
related to the *survival* of all exiting individuals on the
planet (and most likely all future existing individuals).
Only if the individuals get sucked into believing that
they should "control everything" (or mostly everything)
will they be in a condition of scarcity. The will not
be in scarcity with regard to their survival, they will
be in scarcity with regard to the fantasies their imagination
has created for them.
> It will merely switch around the level and types of scarcity.
It isn't nanotechnology that switches around the level of scarcity, it
is the minds of people letting their imaginations run wild that does.
> Currently, air is hardly considered a scarce commodity,
> yet there is still a market in lots other things AND air
> quality is marketable item.
I suspect many people living in cities would consider clean
air a scarce item. Because of that it is marketable.
Many of the textropians (or down-unders) (if they live outside
major cities) would hardly view air as marketable. Marketability
is context dependent.
Robert
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