A Future Without Money?

Many dream of a future with lots of money, other where currency is a thing of the past, a prosperous post-scarcity civilization, but could such a future be possible? And what would a society without money be like?

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Credits:
A Future Without Money?
Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur
Episode 310, September 30, 2021

Written by Isaac Arthur & Jerry Guern

Produced & Narrated by Isaac Arthur

Editors:
Dillon Olander
Jason Burbank
Keith Blockus
Konstantin Sokerin

Cover Art:

Graphics:
Udo Schroeter

[TheCowardRobertFord]

I don't fear a future in which I don't have any money. I fear a PRESENT in which I don't have any money, because I'm living it.

[AlecMuller]

"Every bit of technology or entertainment from a century ago would be in the public domain."
Disney Lawyers: "LOL, @#% no."

[UrdnotChuckles]

I've seen a few sci-fi worlds take the approach that has the individual citizen not needing to worry about money, but still has *some* kind of currency system that exists at the level of the nation state or empire. Like the Federation Credit in Star Trek. A medium of exchange to pay other nation states for trade and the like, rather than something you'd use at the local Starbucks.

[Arkantos]

"It's easy to be a saint in paradise"

[hithere]

Ferengi rules of acquisition #75: Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of latinum.

[thekingofcardboard]

Whenever I get into discussions about what the future will be like I always get responses like "we'll never be able to gene edit to that extent." Or "we'll never be able to put the human mind into a machine body." This channel says let's assume the things we can't do today because it's too difficult become possible, then go from there. The only limits are the laws of physics, but it's still grounded and realistic discussions.

[mrhaze]

17:56 "Do you know what the trouble is? The trouble is Earth-on Earth there is no poverty, no crime, no war. You look out the window of Starfleet Headquarters and you see paradise. It's easy to be a saint in paradise, but the Maquis do not live in paradise. Out there in the demilitarized zone all the problems haven't been solved yet. Out there, there are no saints, just people-angry, scared, determined people who are going to do whatever it takes to survive, whether it meets with Federation approval or not." - Sisko ds9

[billbadson]

2:57
Point-buy children is the most dystopic and terrifying social engineering system I can imagine.

[rhuiah]

Great episode. So long as money is only good for things you 'want' rather than 'need' (i.e. food, medicine, education, etc. are 'too cheap to meter') then it removes much of the anxiety/etc. driving the hoarding of wealth, greatly diminishing its power and influence over society regardless what its called.

[GrimSleepy]

I've said for years, our most valuable resources are:
1) Personal time.
2) Social interrelations.
3) Survival/comfort necessities.

[chriscubbernuss]

I'm kind of confused by the discussion of how many ball bearings and chain links are going to be produced in the next year. Isn't the correct answer zero, since all that would do is take away resources from paperclip production?

[MatthewCampbell]

2:25 For what it's worth, I'd argue you actually can blame a tool sometimes: Namely, the tool caused a problem by being poorly or unsafely designed. For example, a car with terrible breaks or poor steering controls can actually be blamed for causing a crash. Similarly, while there's the saying "guns don't kill people" you could probably (theoretically) design a gun that was unsafe to use and it might kill somebody

[themanfromerf]

I like how Iain Banks handles this concept in his Culture series. Before the widespread adoption of money, your own personal capabilities and your reputation among your peers were the only currency that mattered. I think it's perfectly reasonable to speculate that we might return to such an economy of reputation and demonstrated competency, once energy and material are no longer scarce resources.

[TrippLilley]

In my mind, the biggest flaw is that we use money, a single-dimensional metric, to measure and compare complex, multidimensional systems.

[BI-y_TheStormTrooper]

The federation did use money in several varities as in ; technology, rare metals and starship fuel also status . It's kinda like advanced bartering .

[anomalocaris]

future without money?? I'm living in the future then

[AgentForest]

I think what Picard meant was that people, when they are no longer at each others' throats competing for their very survival, no longer covet each other's things. If I want a beer, I wouldn't have to simp for some rich guy long enough for him to give me the resources to buy one, I wouldn't have to steal one, I wouldn't have to even MAKE one unless I wanted to as a hobby. I could just materialize one.

It's not that human beings were artificially augmented at the brain level to make them not covet. They simply had no need for such feelings. Culturally, greed just sort of fell out of favor. It's not that mankind's brains had been altered to make us not greedy. We just had no survival need for continuing to be greedy. Capitalism requires and incentivizes us to live greedily. Post-scarcity society does not.

[anthonylipke]

I think it's optimistic to imagine that copyright holders are going to give up extensions

[UFBMusic]

I like how the subscribe and like bit came up when you were talking about living under the thumb of an all powerful AI.

[nabo]

It's hard to imagine an advanced moneyless society without letting go primitive institutions like the state, capital, classes and commodity production.