From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lee@piclab.com)
Date: Mon Nov 18 2002 - 11:31:21 MST
> (Samantha Atkins <samantha@objectent.com>):
> Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
> >Can you imagine a world in which everything knowable is known, and
> >there's no longer anyone striving for more knowledge of any kind?
> >I certainly can't. The "skills" that all humans have in abundance
> >include curiosity, imagination, judgment. In a high-tech world
> >where mundane things like food and shelter and transportation and
> >communication are cheap as air, there will still be a need for
> >exploration, education, entertainment. The economy will be driven
> >by those who produce information, those who look for and select
> >information. The amount of "work" required to support a human
> >may be as little as offering an opinion now and then; but it is
> >not likely to ever be zero, and those who do more of it will have
> >more opportunities than those who don't.
> >
> But would that information need to be "owned" or turned into property?
> Is informaiton property? Can we picture, much less acheive, a radically
> different world without what we normally think of as an economy (which
> is based on scarcity in its common definition) at all? Minds, talent,
> creativity will certainly be in demand and there will certainly be
> competition for them. But why should fences be build around ideas and
> information when their value is generally increased by being shared and
> combined?
No, the information doesn't have to be property; it is a service.
The idea that one can eliminate money or the economy entirely,
though, is not feasible. Its existence is a consequence of the
conservation of mass-energy, and unless you change the laws of
physics, the laws of supply and demand must follow. Because those
with the ability to control more mass-energy will be able to buy
and use more creative works.
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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