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[Armok]

You guys don't know this stuff? *sigh*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_scarcity_economy

[Muz]

I don't believe in a dystopia. People are just too willing to push themselves further when there's nothing to do. Once you have everything, you get bored. They'll either push themselves physically (sports), mentally (games, invention, reading), or socially (facebook addiction).

[Earthquake Damage]

You guys don't know this stuff? *sigh*

Hello condescension.  Nice of you to join us.

[Eagleon]

The nature of life is to expand to fill its constraints. We'll see a step curve (as we have for previous revolutions) if this happens - as someone said, humanity will move onto larger projects. If food is plentiful, humanity will expand until it isn't. If energy is plentiful, the same curve is followed. We stabilize in the same way natural populations do - we'll always be dependent on resources, and unless we essentially neuter our expansion, even if you can pull a perfectly ripe orange instantly from the air around you, there will come a time that people will have to work.

I would worry more about how to stop humanity than I would about how to keep it going. Then again, that wouldn't be too difficult right now.

[alway]

You all are thinking to literally about this all. What do you do in Dwarf Fortress, a game with an economy in which 10 dwarves can supply the essentials for 200? You use the extra labor for megaprojects!

[Andir]

You all are thinking to literally about this all. What do you do in Dwarf Fortress, a game with an economy in which 10 dwarves can supply the essentials for 200? You use the extra labor for megaprojects!

Unfortunately, we are using all our extra labor for parties... and if one of them gets hurt, the world will end that day.

[Ampersand]

If all industry were made maximally efficient, automated, and no men were required to conduct manufacturing or heavy labor, all that would happen is that the focus of the world economy would shift from manufacturing and service to resource trading, research and development, entertainment, design and most importantly, energy production. In other words, things that robots can't do.

You can have robots that do every labor intensive job in the world, but it doesn't mean anything if they do not have energy to power them.

Also, Alway may have a very good point without even realizing it. Historically, there were many cultures where the basic needs of the people could be met relatively easily over a short time frame. Egypt is probably the best example. Here you have a situation where the population is fed by an annual harvest granted by the flooding of the Nile river. The efficiency of food production was such that for a very long period out of every year, all Farmers were effectively out of work due to their fields being either at least partially underwater, or already harvested and resown.

The Egyptian solution was simple. Megaprojects.

[alway]

Also, Alway may have a very good point without even realizing it.[/url]

What do you mean "without realizing it?" I am the omnipotent Alway, I realize all! 

Basicly, when labor no longer is an issue, the economy will be based on acquiring resources(minimal), and coming up with new ways of using said resources. The interesting thing is though, computer programs can do just fine at resource allocation, and with the help of things like genetic algorithms, the second will be much easier. The only difficult part would be essentially "phrasing the question" in a way in which a computer is able to interpret what you want and creatively come up with a design.
Or that's the utopian idea at least... In reality, robots would likely be too expensive to practically replace all labor.

[Zangi]

Not just a moon based megaproject.  Space colonies, like how they have from the earlier gundam animes.  (I havn't watched the new ones...)

Total VR MMOs...  where you pay to live and work... in a virtual world!

[Muz]

Lol, megaprojects. America and UAE does it.

Australia and Germany are more efficient than other countries. They have a relatively high unemployment rate, but it looks like they're happy, because families have enough wealth - not everyone has to work to be happy, as opposed to less efficient countries.

Reaching that level of efficiency is going to be where a lot of the workforce goes. Back then, you needed like an ox and a few people to get some food. These days, you just need a tractor and a person. But how do you get the tractor? You need a metal industry and petrol industry.

Metal industry - a bunch of hardworking miners, chemical engineers, mining engineers, sales team, management.
Petrol industry - hardworking laborers, chemical engineers, geologists, drilling engineers, sales, management, PR, etc, etc.
Also a transport industry, construction industry, telecommunications....

So, just to get that one tractor, you're opening up a hell lot more jobs. Getting robots that create robots just doesn't happen... you need the people who can make the creationist robots in the first place. And when you have an overflow of skilled workers, the education industry booms. Enough higher education, and you'll get skilled workers teaching primary schools, which is not at all a bad thing.

Hell, if you still have an overflow of idle labor and too much efficiency, you get too much wealth. And what do we do with excess wealth? We build megaprojects, or a massive military. After all, when you have a lot of physicists, it's not too hard to build nukes.

[MrWiggles]

Yea, I dont see this as very worrisome. The idle hands will find themselves busy with something.

[Jude]

Yea, I dont see this as very worrisome. The idle hands will find themselves busy with something.

Yeah but if they aren't getting paid for it then they'll find themselves busy with robbing people to be able to live

[MrWiggles]

Yea, I dont see this as very worrisome. The idle hands will find themselves busy with something.

Yeah but if they aren't getting paid for it then they'll find themselves busy with robbing people to be able to live

That still something! 8>

But um, yea well are sensability of economics would apply for this mythical world. They probably need some sort work credit or something.

[Soadreqm]

Yea, I dont see this as very worrisome. The idle hands will find themselves busy with something.

Yeah but if they aren't getting paid for it then they'll find themselves busy with robbing people to be able to live

Creating an increased market for security systems and private armies! Everything works out!

Besides, living is CHEAP in a world that's slowly crossing over to post-scarcity economy. You can live on the street, looking for food in dumpsters, and still have two laptops because the production costs are so low that rich people are buying new ones every week.

[Earthquake Damage]

because the production costs are so low that rich people are buying new ones every week.

Only nobody would actually do that.  It's a pain in the ass it is to set up a new computer!  It takes months to finally get all the little things configured the way you like.