Brian D Williams wrote:
>
> >Greg Burch wrote:
>
> >"The basic concept held by some is that a very sophisticated
> >nanotech-enabled economy would be so rich that "the basics" as you
> >describe them could be provided to people at such low cost that
> >they would be essentially free. As some have speculated, "free
> >basics" might come with some strings attached, such as built-in
> >advertising, or as a give-away in connection with some other
> >goods or services. Beyond this, a sufficiently wealthy and
> >technologically advanced civilization might be able to afford
> >universal "free basics" as a matter of charity."
>
> Well first of all TANSTAAFL, there ain't no such thing as a free
> lunch.
Well, yes, but with sufficient technology, the cost of anything could
potentially reach such a minimal number so as not to matter to the most
highly productive entities on the planet. Reminds me of a billionaire, I
think Rockefeller, who would carry around a bag of dimes every day and
give away dimes to anyone he met. Those were the days when a dime could
buy a person their day's meal.
>
> Second, there is a very strange problem with "giving" people things
> without any cost.
Ok, I hereby declare that anyone who wants to eat their day's nano-slop
must recite twenty new lines of Shakespeare (or twenty differential
equations) a day.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:56:26 MDT