|
The thing is, the people who seek displays of status and those capable of doing things that no one else can aren't necessarily the same people. These days, climbing Mount Everest isn't what it used to be; it's not really a sign of being a great mountaineer. The Sherpas do the work. You can buy some status by climbing Mount Everest, but the easier it gets, the less status it gives. Objects are so much easier to display than actions.
If we had something like Star Trek's replicator, where anyone could have anything they wanted to, it would have economic implications which are difficult to predict accurately. But I think people would still be buying status objects, but what constitutes a status object might well change. There are extremely expensive pens that do not write any better than any other pen. The only advantage they have is that the right sort of people know that you have an expensive pen. Perhaps in a world of replicators, people would get originals as status items, and brag about their item being an original rather than a copy.
|