History Main / PostScarcityEconomy

TheSingularity has arrived! Technology has advanced to the point that practically anyone can have practically anything for practically nothing. Often involves {{Nanomachines}} or other forms of MatterReplicator. In other words, AWizardDidIt -- [[MagicFromTechnology with SCIENCE!]] Put more charitably, complete automation via advanced AI or similar contrivances.

* Explicitly averted in ''TabletopGame/Starfinder'', where the dominant economic system is specifically explained to be regulated capitalism and that this is backed by the major god Abadar. Additionally, while there is enough material for basic needs to be easily met in most places, people want better stuff (the bigger gun, better armor, nicer ship, fancier vehicle, cool apartment, latest computer, amazing high-tech necrograft...) and that creates scarcity.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': The Planetary Union apparently has one, given there is no money anymore, and referring to another planet as "still capitalist" in "Majority Rule". In "New Dimensions", Kelly explicitly attributes this to the invention of MatterReplicator technology. John note, however, that there are colony worlds that struggle to survive, citing his own home planet as an example.

* In Creator/WalterJonWilliams's ''Implied Spaces'', powerful AI can control quantum fields with enough precision to create just about anything one can imagine, including pocket universes. Just about the only place ''any'' scarcities remain is in pocket universes dedicated to games and historical re-creations, where artificial scarcity is part of the rules.

** One of the items consistently used as a measurement of "wealth" is the 'annie-plant': a core of neutronium, used as a source of energy, fuel, and a focus for gravity manipulation. There seemed to be an in-universe limit on how large you can try to make one before it collapses, usually due to flaws that scale up with size. (The UNS can make plants of a certain size; Osiri is larger, but the flaws are correspondingly smaller.)

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2017-04-21 Cindy,]] a six-hundred year old warship AI, claims she's seen society cross into "post-scarcity" three times and every time people discovered another basic commodity they didn't have enough of.

* In Ralph Williams' "[[http://www.vb-tech.co.za/ebooks/Williams%20Ralph%20-%20Business%20as%20Usual%20During%20Alterations%20-%20SF.txt Business as Usual, During Alterations]]" aliens give humanity a pair of devices that can duplicate anything that can fit on one of the two pans, including another duplicator, and somebody figures out that the pans can be replaced with aluminum sheets of any size. A department store manager attempts to deal with it by first marking all prices down 90%, then refusing all cash transactions and issuing credit cards to customers. As duplicators spread across the planet, industry shifts from mass production to innovation.

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* In Ralph Williams' "[[http://www.vb-tech.co.za/ebooks/Williams%20Ralph%20-%20Business%20as%20Usual%20During%20Alterations%20-%20SF.txt Business as Usual, During Alterations]]" aliens give humanity a pair of devices that can duplicate anything that can fit on one of the two pans, including another duplicator, and somebody figures out that the pans can be replaced with aluminum sheets of any size. A department store manager attempts to deal with it by first marking all prices down 90%, then refusing all cash transactions and issuing credit cards to customers. As duplicators spread across the planet industry shifts from mass production to innovation.
* Gianni Rodari's story ''Planet of Christmas Trees'' features a planet on which all work is done by robots and machines and everyone has access to any resources the want, to the point where entire castles are built just to be [[PercussiveTherapy smashed by people who need to work off some frustration]]. Also ItsAlwaysSpring, every day is Christmas, and the government has grown unnecessary.

* Creator/RobertAntonWilson's ''Schroedinger's Cat'' trilogy studies a number of [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]], including a Utopian one, where a manual laborer who invents a way to automatize his work will get a high standard of living for lifetime, and everybody else in the same business gets a comfortable one, as machines multiply the production rates, allowing a part of the surplus to be used this way, since capitalism requires consumers in order to function. The system has its problems to a careful reader -- one would imagine that people would cry foul when major parts of the formerly working class populace get free lunch without doing anything, while others continue to toil at least until someone in their ranks manages to mechanize that particular industry, as well. Still, the people who have jobs that can't be automatized are depicted as the lucky ones, since permanent vacation isn't all that it's cut out to be, and as a result adult education flourishes.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': The Planetary Union apparently has one, given there is no money anymore, and referring to another planet as "still capitalist" in "Majority Rule". In "New Dimensions", Kelly explicitly attributes this to the invention of MatterReplicator technology.

* Creator/StrugatskyBrothers' Franchise/NoonUniverse has a classical post-scarcity society which they explicitly called communism. That gave them all kinds of trouble with the authorities, as ''their'' take on what communism should look like (decentralized, technology focused) was radically different from the party line. Similar elements were actually common with most Soviet Sci-Fi (indeed, it was actually ''required'' that writers depict the future as being communist, because the government thought it would [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp "inevitably"]] be the case) but they fleshed it out to such an extent that it unnerved censors.

* ''Literature/TheLongEarth's'' premise is that there exists an infinite amount of parallel universe Earths, each with the common characteristic that mankind never evolved there, leaving its mineral, animal and vegetal resources untapped... and the way to access them is ridiculously simple, portable and has its schematics posted on the Internet. The economy quickly collapses due to the enormous amount of resources brought in (except iron, which can only Step in oxidized form, i.e. in blood or as rust) and unskilled workers leave ''en masse'' for objectively better lives, while governments start having problems when people realize they only need to Step a world or two away to be out of reach of any policies they don't agree with and StartTheirOwn. Just about everyone gets the idea to head for places known to contain gold on Earth without considering what it will do to the economy. Travel and resource production is slow, as Stepping occurs one Earth at a time and TeleportationSickness affects almost everyone, but colonies are quickly founded more than a thousand Earth deep.

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* The set of novels starting with "[[Literature/{{Uglies}} The Uglies]]" by Scott Westerfield had Cities which seemed to be this. The Pretties (read: 16-2x year olds) could have nearly anything they want just by asking for it. We find out later in the first novel this is true, but not solely because of the highly advanced technology the society has. In fact, the last novel of the series called "The Extras" deals very well with the fallout when one of the Pretties' "enhancements" is fixed with the Brain Rain. Said change caused a huge, permanent sea-change that required the society to have a type of currency (based on reputation and work you do) to limit resource usage.

* In Creator/NaloHopkinson's ''Midnight Robber'', most of the human worlds, including the planet Toussaint where the book starts, have automation which frees people from the need to work. Some, like the Pedicab Guild, insist on doing so anyway, but for the most people, arts and leisure are the main activities. This leaves Tan-Tan and her father Antonio totally unprepared for life on the remote PenalColony world of New Half-Way Tree, where hard work makes the difference between life and death.

* Life Arthur C. Clarke's [[Literature/TheCityAndTheStars Diaspar]] is supported by advanced technology under the control of the Central Computer.

* Gianni Rodari's story ''Planet of Christmas Trees'' features a planet on which all work is done by robots and machines and everyone has access to any resources the want, to the point where entire castles are built just to be smashed by people who need to work off some frustration. Also ItsAlwaysSpring, every day is Christmas, and the government has grown unnecessary.

* Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/TroyRising'' The Glatun, the friendly galactic race, have 30% of their population permanently unemployed. Nearly everything they use is created by fabbers which are run by AIs and use only raw materials (or can be supplied with old scrap) and Helium-3 to run. The only scarcity in their economy is Helium-3 yet the high unemployment is repeatedly cited as evidence that the Glatun are headed towards disaster. To add to the oddness humanity eventually builds a Helium-3 mine that is said to produce so much it could power the entire galactic arm. One imagines that the 70% of Glatun who are employed are only keeping what's built running in the field.

* ''Series/TheOrville'': The Planetary Union apparently has one, given there is no money anymore, and referring to another planet as "still capitalist" in "Majority Rule".

* In ''Literature/TheNakedSun'', the planet Solaria had eliminated social inequality by only having a twenty thousand population, later reduced to 1,200. There are ten thousand robots per person.

* The TNG era of Franchise/StarTrek (depicted in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpace9'', and ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'') has the Federation as Post Scarcity. This is played inconsistently as the Federation still has restaurants and shops on Earth, still has family run businesses and still conducts trade. It's been stated that real cooking with real food is always superior to replicated food (though only subtly) and historical scarcity of items still seems to require some monetary transaction.

* ''The Midas Plague'' features an unusual situation where there is ''too much'' production. People are expected to work less and consume more; and the ratio of possessions to social standing is completely inverted. For some reason, [[RuleOfFunny probably comedy]], the thought of simply reducing production is considered unworkable.

* Robert Anton Wilson's ''Schroedinger's Cat'' trilogy studies a number of [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]], including a Utopian one, where a manual laborer who invents a way to automatize his work will get a high standard of living for lifetime, and everybody else in the same business gets a comfortable one, as machines multiply the production rates, allowing a part of the surplus to be used this way, since capitalism requires consumers in order to function. The system has its problems to a careful reader -- one would imagine that people would cry foul when major parts of the formerly working class populace get free lunch without doing anything, while others continue to toil at least until someone in their ranks manages to mechanize that particular industry, as well. Still, the people who have jobs that can't be automatized are depicted as the lucky ones, since permanent vacation isn't all that it's cut out to be, and as a result adult education flourishes.

* Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/TroyRising'' The Glatun, the friendly galactic race, have 30% of their population permanently unemployed. Nearly everything they use is created by fabbers which are run by AIs and use only raw materials (or can be supplied with old scrap) and He3 to run. The only scarcity in their economy is helium3 yet the high unemployment is repeatedly cited as evidence that the Glatun are headed towards disaster. To add to the oddness humanity eventually builds a He3 mine that is said to produce so much it could power the entire galactic arm. One imagines that the 70% of Glatun who are employed are only keeping what's built running in the field.

* ''Literature/{{Accelerando}}''. Creator/CharlesStross enjoys working with post-scarcity societies.

* Creator/StrugatskyBrothers' NoonUniverse has a classical post-scarcity society which they explicitly called communism. That gave them all kinds of trouble with the authorities, as ''their'' take on what communism should look like (decentralized, technology focused) was radically different from the party line. Similar elements were actually common with most Soviet Sci-Fi (indeed, it was actually ''required'' that writers depict the future as being communist, because the government thought it would [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp "inevitably"]] be the case) but they fleshed it out to such an extent that it unnerved censors.

* The TNG era of Franchise/StarTrek (TNG, DS9, and Voyager) has the Federation as Post Scarcity. This is played inconsistently as the Federation still has restaurants and shops on Earth, still has family run businesses and still conducts trade. Its been stated that real cooking with real food is always superior to replicated food (though only subtly and historical scarcity of items still seems to require some monetary transaction.
** The Klingons seem to still have a monetary economy, and it's shown that they have a preference for eating their food while its live or uncooked, which replicators cannot do. Economic Careers however are frowned upon and seen more as a necessary evil. Financially ruining a house into dishonor is abhorred.

** Voyager takes place in a part of the galaxy where replicators weren't readily available to the locals, so they often found that offering replicated but otherwise scarce goods could help... but having the damn things was such a game breaker locally that their initial troubles revolved around other aliens wanting them.

* ''WebOriginal/SeventeenThousandSevenHundredSeventySix'' is set in a distant future without death, birth, or aging. They have the machinery to automatically fabricate anyone's physical needs, so boredom is the only real danger anymore. Some people continue working their old jobs just to have something to do; others play football games that can last for centuries or longer. How the economy works is never examined in any detail -- but there is a bizarre scene where someone orders a meal from Burger King, and the restaurant gives her $20 with it.

TheSingularity has arrived! Technology has advanced to the point that practically anyone can have practically anything for practically nothing. Often involves {{Nanomachines}} or other forms of MatterReplicator. In other words, AWizardDidIt - [[MagicFromTechnology with SCIENCE!]] Put more charitably, complete automation via advanced AI (etc.).

Bonus points for those cases that deal with the fact that some things are ''still'' scarce because of their very nature. The ability to effectively infinitely replicate any commodity does not mean everyone can have a house just like [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater Fallingwater]], the front row seat to a particular concert, or the authentic, original Honus Wagner tobacco card.

* Robert Anton Wilson's ''Schroedinger's Cat'' trilogy studies a number of [[AlternateUniverse Alternate Universes]], including a Utopian one, where a manual laborer who invents a way to automatize his work will get a high standard of living for lifetime, and everybody else in the same business gets a comfortable one, as machines multiply the production rates, allowing a part of the surplus to be used this way, since capitalism requires consumers in order to function. The system has its problems to a careful reader - one would imagine that people would cry foul when major parts of the formerly working class populace get free lunch without doing anything, while others continue to toil at least until someone in their ranks manages to mechanize that particular industry, as well. Still, the people who have jobs that can't be automatized are depicted as the lucky ones, since permanent vacation isn't all that it's cut out to be, and as a result adult education flourishes.

** The novel chronicles the creation of one straight through the singularity. Protagonist Manfred Macx is one of the first people on Earth to realize that in such a world the best way to get truly rich is to help ''other'' people achieve great goals and become rich. In ''Singularity Sky'' and ''Iron Sunrise'' the most valuable resource in the universe are the entangled quantum dots that enable faster-than-light communication and which have to be transported slower than light. After that the most valuable things are information and creativity. There are particularly odd things such as the market for reputation in Accelerando... exactly what a valuable reputation is was not explicitly defined in the novel, but Manfred was kind of the template for how it might work. In short: as physical production becomes easier, there is less value in (easily-automated) labor and more in creativity/novelty and initiative. A person with a valuable reputation is someone worth investing in - their work will give you back valuable ideas, access to valuable resources, or simple entertainment. It's like an elaborate amalgam of a stock market, venture capitalism, and one's social media followers.

* ''WebOriginal/SeventeenThousandSevenHundredSeventySix'' is set in a distant future without death, birth, or aging. They have the machinery to automatically fabricate anyone's physical needs, so boredom is the only real danger anymore. Some people continue working their old jobs just to have something to do; others play football games that can last for centuries or longer. How the economy works is never examined in any detail--but there is a bizarre scene where someone orders a meal from Burger King, and the restaurant gives her $20 with it.

* ''FanFic/ToTheStars'' has this with Earth, with replicators being commonplace, although there are 'allocs' for luxury items like non-synthesized restaurant food or berths on space-going vessels. Averted, however, on the other planets in humanity's empire, which still use a capitalist system. The main character, from Earth, is therefore quite confused when deployed to one of these planets and is bombarded by things called 'advertisements'. To the fanfic's credit, it's mentioned that the twenty-year-and-still going war is causing resources to be drained faster, resulting in an economic shift back towards a capitalist model. Professions which used to be performed for free pre-war are beginning to ask for donations, and students are re-thinking their career choices when they could previously chase whatever dream they wanted regardless of productivity. This is understandably troubling for many Earthborn who are unused to the idea of scarcity, especially for the basics.

Split off from ArtisticLicenseEconomics