06-14-2013, 05:04 AM
I would say that true 'post scarcity' only occurs when an object is fungible. I can't have the same molecule of oxygen as you but that isn't a problem if we both have the same amount, Two 10km area patches of land could have very different values. So a 'true' post scarcity society could only be achived via uploading to a virch. One template of a lakeside is as real as another. Each resident might have an allotment of memory and processing power which could be endlessly recycled as different objects. One requirement might be that any created virch templates or physical real world objects are owned in common by the society.
I can imagine 10 billion or so aiods living comfortably on a large asteroid or perhaps small moon with a lot of bots to look after the physical structure. Perhaps the aoids take it in turn too provide supervision in the real world. Note this might have a small amount of labour but I don't think post-scarcity and post labour don't necessarily go hand in hand.
I also think 'post-scarcity' could be applied to situations where demand has reduced far below supply. A civ that has crashed to the tribal age might have plentiful supplies of germanium because they don't have the electronic demand for it. Or the population of a large planet kept at 10000 sophonts, etc.
I can imagine 10 billion or so aiods living comfortably on a large asteroid or perhaps small moon with a lot of bots to look after the physical structure. Perhaps the aoids take it in turn too provide supervision in the real world. Note this might have a small amount of labour but I don't think post-scarcity and post labour don't necessarily go hand in hand.
I also think 'post-scarcity' could be applied to situations where demand has reduced far below supply. A civ that has crashed to the tribal age might have plentiful supplies of germanium because they don't have the electronic demand for it. Or the population of a large planet kept at 10000 sophonts, etc.