Getting off the track of this theme, I am interested in the concept of 'free
market'.
Today, of course, it does not exist due to government rules and corporations
who control production and much technology. But, will this status quo
continue in the future?
I conceive of a world without corporate entities, in fact, where these
creatures could not survive. The key to this revolution will be the
universal availability of self-contained manufacturing systems that can be
self-replicating and can use the raw materials present in the local
environment to create anything the operator desires, in whatever quantity.
The only limit would be power input, and here I must postulate easy access
to cheap energy from an as yet undiscovered source. Okay, so it's science
fiction right now, but...
Commerce would be by trading, buying, and selling the templates for
controlling the manufacturing machines. Any individual could publish these
templates. Again, there needs to be a universally availible communication
net. Advances in RF technology could make such a net possible without any
'infrastructure' other than the terminals themselves, if only they were
sufficiently many.
If everyone can instantly communicate and trade templates, there would be no
market for transportation as we know it, and large factories would become
obsolete.
I see huge resistance to the start of this system from existing corporations
and governments, but once the first 'replicators' were built, their
dissemination to the world would be inevitable..
Comments?
Chuck Kuecker