Geoff Tillman wrote:
>
> add in construction too. You'd
> > also need to include much of
> > the service industry, no need for plumbers or
> > mechanics or most repair men
> > for that matter because if something breaks just
> > make a new one. We also
> > don't need fast food workers or waiters or ...
>
> I disagree with this point. The service industry
> exists because most people don't have the time or
> desire to perform certain tasks. Even if we can
> replicate new parts cheaper than it would be to repair
> them does not mean the average person will want to be
> bothered with the details..when they can simply
> "click" on a webpage and have someone come over and
> deal with it. Also I suspect that waiters, bartenders,
> hostesses, escorts, models, poolboys........ will be
> increasingly in demand in a truly "nanotechnical" age.
> People will have plenty of resourses to splurge on
> customised and personalised service. And they will pay
> out the wazoo for them.
Yes. While the 'government cheese' equivalent of any product you want will be
available at microprices or as give away promotional items, such that nobody
will suffer from want, high value custom pieces by artisans will be status
symbols that people will pay real money for.... While baseline cars will be made
cheaply from recycled materials, high end cars will be hand made. Manufactured
housing will be cheap, high end houses will be hand made, etc...vat grown beef
will be available for all, while free range beefalo will be hand raised.
One other thing Krugman forgets is that population will flatten out by 2050,
giving people 46 years until 2096 of zero or negative population growth to
increase productivity, decrease prices, and increase resource utilization
efficiency.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:34:26 MDT