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Re: Star Trek: First Contact
On Sat, 23 Nov 1996, Bill Frantz wrote:
> OBMoney: Picard states the they don't have money in the 24th century.
> Instead they work for the good of mankind. Nanotechnology must have made
> everything material possible, so the only reward left is status (aka
> reputation).
They travel faster than light, meet all kinds of life forms, 99.5% of
which are either humanoid of the same dimensions as terran humans too.
>From Gulliver (who had different sizes and species) to gullible.
They don't exchange anything? DS9 indicated the academy used transporter
credits? Replicator credits in Voyager? Were they exchangable? They
don't have money, they have credits. They work for the good of mankind,
but get credits anyway.
Either space travel is paid for, or it is rationed, or both (I get on the
list, when my number nears the top, I change places with the highest
bidder). How are finite (scarce) resources allocated? A super computer
program (which may be considered fair, but I think the computer scientists
probably have the most luxuries in such a society).
Unless, earth decayed into a barter economy!
The Borg don't need money (individual exchange), but they don't seem to
have much use for minds (individual expression) either.
Acutally, Star-Trek is pure fiction. Adam Smith and Ricardo proved
certain theorems in economics. If Star Trek were at the same level of
science in astrophysics as economics, they would have to find a way
through the crystal spheres that let the sun and planets go around the
(flat) earth. When they are not being bled to cure fevers (Captain - this
is Beverly Crusher - something terrible has happened - we've run out of
leeches!).
Economic Illiteracy is a problem. People complain about not having wealth
but won't read the first book (Hidden Order by David Friedman is a good
start, he even has a web page with sample chapter and errata at
http://www.best.com/~ddfr).
Whither Latinum?
Actually one property of Latinum should be that it would be economically
inefficient to replicate or otherwise inflate. Another that it should
have one or more unique properties that made it easy to authenticate. And
it should be durable. Gold had these in 1000 BC - Mines were few, A
"touchstone" could show if it was pure (v.s. dilution with silver), and it
doesn't rust. In the 1800s fine-line engraving was the authentication and
anti-replication method of choice, since it was capital intensive to set
up, but you can tell if a geometric pattern is irregular. Now we will
have cybercheques with digital signatures - forgeable if you have a
trillion dollars worth of computer time.
(see, it is on-topic).
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