Geek Thought: Could the hobby survive Star Trek?

[Daen1304]

Yep, I'm a geek and I got a geek related question to throw at you all. Now I am not talking about literal Star Trek, but a thought hit me while I was bored last night:

The Federation in Star Trek is an example of a post-scarcity which means anything anyone wants is at their finger tips at a moments notice free of charge. In Star Trek it is due to what is called replicators that can whip anything you want up from the atomic structure in a second. Some crazy scientists who are actually bigger nerds than I have even predicted that one day we will have these. And in fact 3D printers exist already that do a really good forgery of the process. Now some social and economic anaylsts that have decided to get in on this thought train went ahead and predicted that this technology would either destroy civilization as we know it by way of destroying the economy or we as a people would adapt and just do away with are current ideas of success and wealth.

So here is the real question: Assuming we adapt and not destroy ourselves, money becomes useless and we all work for the betterment of ourselves or humanity; Providers, would you still be in this business and if so how would you determine who you saw and what compensation would you require for your time? Hobbyists, how would you convince the ladies to see you?

There is no right answers, mainly because I have no idea myself. Best I could come up with is ECCIE may become a Free Love Community and Info Exchange.

[FishGuy13]

Wow interesting thought from one nerd / geek to another, I'm afraid I'd never get laid! Or that it would be a free love type of area NSA perhaps?

[associatetx]

From one Geek to Another. I would be screwed. Only the pretty people would get laid. Geeks like us would be relegated to laboratory, engineering tables, testing labs or what ever for the betterment of society. Only the Jocks would make out in the free love society.

Damn brother, you just screwed up my day.

yes for those of you that could not tell, that was sarcasm.

ASS

[guest061212-1]

Androids rule!!!!

[txcwby6]

If being a Trekkie means I get a shot at fucking someone as hot as Zoe Saldana (played Uhura in the latest Star Trek movie) I'd have my pointy ears and big Vulcan cock out and ready!

[Luvgcz]

the 1960 movie The Time Machine about time travel, the Eloy and the Morlocks.

[PODarkness]

One word.

Holodeck.
Geeks have the most fun because they can program customized experiences, and everyone else has to choose "off the shelf".

[Caleb]

Robert Heinlein's 1982 novel Friday contemplates a world where Artifical People (AP) are created for a variety of tasks, but it seems that one of the most common is to serve as a doxy. The protagonist Friday was also trained as an assassin some time after receiving her training as a doxy. Her character worked perfectly for me - I would have been in her bed in a second! Great read for any of you sci-fi geeks that haven't yet had the pleasure.

[PODarkness]

Originally Posted by Caleb

Robert Heinlein's 1982 novel Friday contemplates a world where Artifical People (AP) are created for a variety of tasks, but it seems that one of the most common is to serve as a doxy. The protagonist Friday was also trained as an assassin some time after receiving her training as a doxy. Her character worked perfectly for me - I would have been in her bed in a second! Great read for any of you sci-fi geeks that haven't yet had the pleasure.

Friday. One of Heinlein's best. Lazarus Long might even agree, as long as Time Enough For Love is in there somewhere.

The difference between Heinlein and ST is the existence of $$$. "Credits" and credit cards are not part of the Star Trek future, making Doxy a volunteer position. So the question becomes...
Ladies, if you had no need for money, would you volunteer?

[Eklutna]

A world without money is a leftist's dream; it is impossible. As much as I like Star Trek it was created by the usual Hollywood leftists. Without the opportunity to earn something of value, who will put in the effort to create and maintain all the wonderful inventions of the world? We would rapidly devolve into a society of moochers.

[Juan Pablo de Marco]

i'm guessing none you guys watched the Mavs game last night.

[kenpachi]

what are mavs lol

[Daen1304]

Originally Posted by J.G. Wentworth

Androids rule!!!!

Scientists say that fully functional Sexbots will be available by 2050. You might ask what Scientist would bother trying to figure that out, and the answer is the awesome kind.

Originally Posted by Eklutna

A world without money is a leftist's dream; it is impossible. As much as I like Star Trek it was created by the usual Hollywood leftists. Without the opportunity to earn something of value, who will put in the effort to create and maintain all the wonderful inventions of the world? We would rapidly devolve into a society of moochers.

Actually, yes! But only because the alternative is a horrifying collapse of society. The idea od a post-scarcity society isn't a dream. Many people feel we are on the verge of it now, with or without replicators, and scientists believe we will have the technology for repliactors that could perform some basic tasks with in a couple of hundred years. They feel One of 3 outcomes would occur, we would realize the leftists dream and have a society where we work for the common good of man, society itself will implode in on itself as only a hand full of people would give a damn any more, or we would come up with bullshit charges and fees to keep the illusion that money is important. The most likely out come is the third since we are already doing that. Hence banks charging fees for things that cost them nothing.

But can we keep the politics out of it. It's a thought exercise, that I came up with while doing inventory, I was bored! Thought it might be fun. The point is do you all think the oldest profession would survive if the idea of monetary wealth died?

[Guest020720]

Well, by that time...I'd probably have be long gone from being a provider - as I would have my degree and I wouldn't need it as a side income.

I would however be interested in dating and I wouldn't be turned on by the "jocks".

I prefer mental masturbation I can give myself or what a partner can create...a brain boner.

So...geeks, you can either turn ME on...or go to your "holodecks".

The choice is yours in that point in time.

Hypothetically speaking.

[Bob Soldios]

Well, one thing you're missing here is that replicators provide physical things. But in the ST universe there is still a lot of commerce, there is still a thriving services industry. I mean, you have the Ferrengi for cryin' out loud.

The "we don't use money anymore" vibe seems to be in the federation core, not the whole universe. As such, much like on Firefly, the non "core worlds" would still have thriving economies. With physical goods being easier to come by commodities such as energy and services would be more valued.

Also, if you're just talking ST:TNG look at the planet Risa : http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Risa (over 200 registered "masseuses")

Good gravy I can't believe I just let my geek show like that in public....