From: O'Regan, Emlyn (Emlyn.ORegan@actew.com.au)
Date: Fri Aug 27 1999 - 03:17:33 MDT
Billy Brown said:
> O'Regan, Emlyn wrote:
> > There's some kind of logical flaw here. Capitalism is about distribution
> of
> > scarce resources to maximum effect, true? If so, you are saying that a
> true
> > free market can't work until scarcity goes away. Why would we need an
> > economic system at all if we have magic nano tech?
>
> No, I'm saying that it is only perfectly, 100% reliable if there are no
> natural monopolies, and nanotech would get rid of those few situations I
> can
> see where a natural monopoly might actually exist. Without nanotech we
> merely have a system that is 99.9% reliable - local monopolies and cartels
> can occasionally form around unusual resource scarcities, but tend to be
> short-lived in the absence of government intervention.
>
> IOW, the free market isn't perfect, but it works much better than any
> other
> system humans have ever devised.
>
With nanotech, where's the need for a market at all? If it irons out all the
bumps due to resource scarcities, so vanquishes scarcity, why do we need
trade?
Emlyn (in oversupply)
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