As a kid I read an old sci fi story about a post-scarcity world where everybody just hung out and goofed around. A few people start crafting little items by hand and trading them, first by bartering and then using little tiddly-wink tokens as money. They get a huge slapdown from authorities because commerce is illegal. I forget how it ends. Wish I could find that story again.
I think it’s weird to believe that bartering would vanish (or be illegal in the case of this story) in a post-scarcity world. Resources are plentiful; what a person can do with those resources is still rare or even unique. They might not exchange money but I would imagine, for example, artists might trade their works to each other. Like a painter trading a portrait to a sculptor for a statue.
It wasn’t the bartering that bothered the government, it was when the people created a monetary system using little plastic tokens that were normally used for meaningless bets on sports. I really wish I could find the original story.
As a kid I read an old sci fi story about a post-scarcity world where everybody just hung out and goofed around. A few people start crafting little items by hand and trading them, first by bartering and then using little tiddly-wink tokens as money. They get a huge slapdown from authorities because commerce is illegal. I forget how it ends. Wish I could find that story again.
I think it’s weird to believe that bartering would vanish (or be illegal in the case of this story) in a post-scarcity world. Resources are plentiful; what a person can do with those resources is still rare or even unique. They might not exchange money but I would imagine, for example, artists might trade their works to each other. Like a painter trading a portrait to a sculptor for a statue.
It wasn’t the bartering that bothered the government, it was when the people created a monetary system using little plastic tokens that were normally used for meaningless bets on sports. I really wish I could find the original story.