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Re:First Steps Towards Post Scarcity by mediaman on Wednesday May 13, 2009 @10:11PM (#608107)
I agree with you -- decades of psychological research show that people acclimate to what they have, and then want more.

Imagine cavemen postulating about what we'll do when we have these big machines that can carry us around at great speed, and when our food is already made for us and no hunting is required. Could they have guessed we'd work in glass office buildings so we can buy iPods and McMansions?

I suspect we're in no better position to guess how we'll use our future economic output, only that we will definitely want to spend it.

Re:First Steps Towards Post Scarcity by sachmanb on Thursday May 14, 2009 @01:29PM (#609203)
yes, but not everyone in the world currently has this set of things: [1] shelter,[2] food, [3] water. there are some things that are basic to our survival and experience, and from there we build the 'more.' when i think post scarcity, i think post-scarcity of life essentials. the quest to explore and build new things is infinite.