Replicators are perhaps the most significant of all of Star Trek’s inventions. The warp engine, transporters, and tricorders cannot hold a candle to the replicator. It is the technological foundation of trekonomics, the keystone of the Federation’s prosperity, the device that really sets it apart and makes it so intriguing and pregnant with possibilities. After the absence of money and the abolition of human labor, we now turn to the replicator…”
“What is the big deal ? The big deal is this: because of the replicator, nobody in the Federation has to work ever again. Nobody. Ever. The compulsion to work in order to survive has vanished. And furthermore, because of the replicators’ ubiquity, the necessity for markets has vaporized as well. Imbalances in supply and demand have largely become moot. The entire edifice of society as we know it has been upended. The old world, our world, is gone, and all it took was a cup of Earl Grey tea.”
To better understand a resource-based economy consider this: if all the money in the world suddenly disappeared, but topsoil, factories, and other resources were left intact, we could build anything we chose to build and fulfill any human need. It is not money that people need, but access to the necessities of life without having to appeal to a government bureaucracy or any other agency. In a resource-based economy money is irrelevant. What’s required are the resources, manufacturing and distribution of the products.
If the thought of eliminating money still troubles you, consider this: If a group of people with gold, diamonds, and money were stranded on an island that had no resources, their wealth would be irrelevant to their survival. It is only when resources are scarce that money can be used to control their distribution. One could not, for example, sell the air we breathe or water abundantly flowing down a mountain stream. Although air and water are valuable, in abundance they cannot be sold. Money is only important in a society when resources for survival are rationed and people accept money as an exchange medium for the scarce resources. Money is a social convention, an agreement if you will. It is neither a natural resource nor does it represent one. It is not necessary for survival unless we have been conditioned to accept it as such.
The Best That Money Can’t Buy | The Venus Project