Let’s have some weird destablizing tech that rich people cannot control or bank on to level the playing field a little. (No, not AI - something like pre-2010 internet). That or aliens, who have the sole goal of trading with us only once our Gini coefficient drops to less than 0.05
First thing anyone with matter replicators needs to do is IMMEDIATELY replicate 100 replicators and send them to enough countries that there’s no WAY for any corporation or rich fuck to quash it and maintain dominance.
Replicators would immediately destroy any economic system because no economic system would be needed when everything you can think of is a button press away.
I’ll put on my best Keiko voice and disappointed stare.
“But Miles, where do you think the matter replicators get their matter from? And where does the power to run them come from? Until there is a complete and total change in human philosophy regarding the accumulation of wealth, any required resource will become the new vehicle of capitalistic control.”
If you can replicate matter with energy, you can turn matter into energy.
First you use a little wall power or even solar power, replicate some chargeable power cells, and then hey look you’ve got some portable replicating that will work without an obvious power source.
And as long as you have enough matter on hand to convert to energy, you have enough power to replicate things until we replicate space tech like deflector dishes and bussard collectors to soak in all that tasty hydrogen that’s just laying around all over the universe.
Jaysus, Keiko, it’s like you don’t even listen to me when we’re having dinner…
Hah, I guess I wasn’t thinking far enough into the Trekkiverse.
I had recently read a book that had replicator-like technology but the matter stream was a luxury that not everyone could afford to connect to, it was laid out as an analog to the internet or other services like that, so that’s where my mind went. I can’t for the life of me remember which book that was…
I will try and dig through my e-reader to find it, but it was a while ago so I might have purged the file.
On a completely unrelated note, just this week I finished up the last of Greg Egan’s works, I’ve been binging all his stuff. If you haven’t read any of his stuff I highly recommend it. They were all so good, but Diaspora and the Orthogonal Trilogy were my standout faves. the Orthogonal Trilogy is so unbelievably deeply technically detailed, it kept me glued to the pages and pages of equations, even if the characters were a little dry. It’s all about the universe-building in that one. Egan has an entire website with a massive amount of additional information and details about the physics of that universe.
No… no… No.
Let’s have some weird destablizing tech that rich people cannot control or bank on to level the playing field a little. (No, not AI - something like pre-2010 internet). That or aliens, who have the sole goal of trading with us only once our Gini coefficient drops to less than 0.05
First thing anyone with matter replicators needs to do is IMMEDIATELY replicate 100 replicators and send them to enough countries that there’s no WAY for any corporation or rich fuck to quash it and maintain dominance.
Replicators would immediately destroy any economic system because no economic system would be needed when everything you can think of is a button press away.
Honestly any version of replicators…
Highly related Cory Doctorow story:
PrintCrime
https://craphound.com/stories/2006/01/12/printcrime/
I’ll put on my best Keiko voice and disappointed stare.
“But Miles, where do you think the matter replicators get their matter from? And where does the power to run them come from? Until there is a complete and total change in human philosophy regarding the accumulation of wealth, any required resource will become the new vehicle of capitalistic control.”
Matter=energy=matter.
If you can replicate matter with energy, you can turn matter into energy.
First you use a little wall power or even solar power, replicate some chargeable power cells, and then hey look you’ve got some portable replicating that will work without an obvious power source.
And as long as you have enough matter on hand to convert to energy, you have enough power to replicate things until we replicate space tech like deflector dishes and bussard collectors to soak in all that tasty hydrogen that’s just laying around all over the universe.
Jaysus, Keiko, it’s like you don’t even listen to me when we’re having dinner…
back to the pattern buffer for you I guess…
Hah, I guess I wasn’t thinking far enough into the Trekkiverse.
I had recently read a book that had replicator-like technology but the matter stream was a luxury that not everyone could afford to connect to, it was laid out as an analog to the internet or other services like that, so that’s where my mind went. I can’t for the life of me remember which book that was…
Not the answer, but perhaps a feather for your cap
https://lemmy.ml/post/33606418/20062375
Shit, imma need that title…
Well, shit.
If you remember, let us know! I’m a huge book nerd that (clearly) loves sci-fi, and that sounds pretty neat.
I will try and dig through my e-reader to find it, but it was a while ago so I might have purged the file.
On a completely unrelated note, just this week I finished up the last of Greg Egan’s works, I’ve been binging all his stuff. If you haven’t read any of his stuff I highly recommend it. They were all so good, but Diaspora and the Orthogonal Trilogy were my standout faves. the Orthogonal Trilogy is so unbelievably deeply technically detailed, it kept me glued to the pages and pages of equations, even if the characters were a little dry. It’s all about the universe-building in that one. Egan has an entire website with a massive amount of additional information and details about the physics of that universe.