Star Trek Is Wrong: There Will Always Be Scarcity

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Star Trek Is Wrong: There Will Always Be Scarcity

OCTOBER 20, 2015 Jonathan Newman

 

With the recent successes and announcements of sci-fi movies and TV shows like The Martian, Interstellar, and new incarnations ofStar Trek and Star Wars, no one can deny that we crave futurism and stretching our imagination on what advanced technology can accomplish. Many look to the example of these fictional worlds as an indication of what life might be like when technology can provide for all of our basic needs, a condition some call “post-scarcity.”

 

The same people call on dramatic government interventions to make sure everybody can earn a “living wage” when robots and automation do all of the producing. They say that “post-scarcity” conditions will completely overturn economies and even economics itself.