: [Re: Implicatations of a nanotech based economy]
: >What, like software? It costs virtually nothing to make as many copies
: >as you like. Yet for some reason software companies still insist on
: >charging money for it, often in rather large amounts.
: >Maybe these things will be distributed free to all those who need them -
: >but the whole of human history is against it, one hundred percent.
: Agreed. Bob Hiltner's idealistic vision of a transformed world of plenty is
: very far in the future and maybe not even there IMHO.
I routinely pick up free software from GNU and other places ... these folks seem to think it is OK to give things away.
_If_ we can produce anything we like out of atoms, then the profit motive becomes rather moot, wouldn't you say? The instant I obtain a universal assembler, I no longer need to purchase food, clothing, or numerous other things which presently drive the world of commerce.
Instead, I'd tap into the Net and trade my programs for others. You get my designs for comfortable clothing; I get yours for better chairs; we both profit.
When information is "too cheap to meter", I suspect that we'd wind up giving it away, just as people now pass out zuchini to anyone who appears on the doorstep.
Raw materials? Possibly land owners would militantly defend their rights to every last atom; perhaps folks would just mosey on down to the nearest landfill and scoop up some atoms.
Rather hard to defend against disassemblers; probably easier to just accept that there is enough for _everybody_ to get comfortable.