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Anna North writes in the NY Times about Star Trek's "post-economic" system, in which money no longer exists and anything you want can be made in a replicator, essentially for free. According to Manu Saadia, the author of "Trekonomics," a forthcoming book about the economics of the Star Trek universe, when everything is free, objects will no longer be status symbols. Success will be measured in achievements, not in money: "Instead of working to become more wealthy, you work to increase your reputation," says Saadia. "You work to increase your prestige. You want to be the best captain or the best scientist in the entire galaxy. And many other people are working to do that, as well. It's very meritocratic"
In a time of rising inequality and stagnating wages, a world where everyone's needs are met and people only work if they feel like it seems pretty far away but a post-scarcity economy is actually far more within reach than the technological advances for which Star Trek is better known. If productivity growth continues, Saadia believes there will be much more wealth to go around in a few hundred years' time. In general, society might look more like present-day New Zealand, which he sees as less work-obsessed than the United States: "You work to live rather than the other way round." Wealthy retirees today also already live an essentially post-money existence, "traveling and exploring and deepening their understanding of the world and being generally happy." According to Saadia we're beginning to get a few hints of what the post-money, reputation-based economy might look like. "If you look at things like Instagram, Vine, places where people put a huge amount of work into basically just gaining a certain amount of reputation, it's fascinating to see. Or even Wikipedia, for that matter. The Internet has begun to give us a hint of how much people will work, for no money, just for reputation."
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Sunday July 12 2015, @03:19PM
Well, if you look at Star Trek, there's one thing you'll always notice: A hierarchy. A hierarchy is the means to control. Those higher in the hierarchy can give orders to those lower in the hierarchy.
And yes, whether you become Captain depends on your skills, but does it only depend on your skills? Can really everyone pass Starfleet Academy? Not only formally, but actually? Sure, you don't have to pay money for it, but there are other ways to keep the lower classes out. For example, by requiring knowledge that only is available to upper classes. Not officially, of course, but simply because upper class people pass it on to their children, but never speak about it otherwise, and lower-class people won't have a chance to learn it. You need not even officially require that knowledge. You just have to make sure that everyone who doesn't have it fails.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday July 12 2015, @03:26PM
Which really makes you wonder...did Worf graduate Starfleet Academy because of Affirmative Action?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Sunday July 12 2015, @07:33PM
Not likely - in almost every instance where Worf gives advice, it would have saved the Enterprise a world of trouble if they'd actually followed his suggestions.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday July 13 2015, @01:14AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 12 2015, @08:06PM
no, Worf was an uncle tom.
Violence loving brown people whom everyone else feels uncomfortable around and actively avoids. Yup, Star Trek gave us Space negros.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 12 2015, @08:59PM
Many people say "Uncle Tom" when they should be saying "Sambo". [google.com]
Uncle Tom allowed himself to be beaten to death rather than betray his own people; Sambo was a sadist who enjoyed inflicting pain on other black people.
Previous subthread [soylentnews.org]
-- gewg_
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday July 12 2015, @05:09PM
For example, by requiring knowledge that only is available to upper classes.
This has been tried before, such as in ancient China or the nobility of Europe. It takes some effort, but it's just not that hard to learn or fake that sort of knowledge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 12 2015, @05:31PM
What was the secret knowledge?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Sunday July 12 2015, @09:06PM
WOW, it still works!
Account abandoned.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 12 2015, @09:31PM
I was kidding... Of course I know the secret. Not that I would tell you.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday July 13 2015, @12:24AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 13 2015, @02:45AM
That's only in Starfleet, because Starfleet is, essentially, a military. We're never shown much outside of Starfleet, but there is certainly no hierarchy outside of the military. There is still money though, gold-pressed latinum, specifically for use on the black market and with other capitalist economies.