Quote:
Originally Posted by Worldwalker
Sure, I'd like to live in a post-scarcity world. I'd like to live in a world where I didn't have to worry about being hungry, or wanting clothes, or needing medicine. I'd like to live in a world where I could do just the things I wanted to, relax when I wanted to, create art, and so on. But I wouldn't want to read stories about it, because they'd all be the "Mr. Smith had a nice day" kind, and that's no fun at all.
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"Post-scarcity" doesn't have to mean "post-conflict." There is plenty of fiction set in a post-scarcity world that still manages to find a story-- Ian Bank's
Culture novels, for example. And all Star Trek post-TOS, where people work not because they need to so that they can have food, shelter, and medical care, but because they
want to.
And on a more practical basis, the earliest "replicator" type technology already exists in 3D printers, which become cheaper and more sophisticated every year. We won't have a future where the replicators are pure magic like in Star Trek, but I find it hard to imagine a realistic future (that doesn't come after a total collapse of current civilization) that
doesn't have some form of 3D printing that is far more advanced and widespread than what we have today. Writing a plausible "modern future" where people can't simply print out a free (excluding costs of raw materials) copy of a large variety of things whenever they want is as realistic as a "modern future" where people don't have any form of portable electronics.