Theory on money in the 24th century

[cgervasi]

T'Girl wrote:

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Excuse me?

I think you're just teasing, but what I'm saying is YouTube videos, blogs, encyclopedia articles, and other digital content are provided for free. Most solid goods are not, except for things of little value like water from a drinking fountain. There is a possibility in the near future some planes for physical goods will be shared freely like YouTube videos and manufactured on inexpensive desktop mfg machines. In the more distance future, maybe that makerbots will become Star Trek replicators. If the replicators are cheap, an economy of physical goods could come to look like the economy for Wikipedia articles. The Star Trek economy looks more plausible than ever.

[T'Girl]

cgervasi wrote:

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but what I'm saying is YouTube videos, blogs, encyclopedia articles, and other digital content are provided for free.

Youtube last year made about three and a half billion dollars in advertising revenues. Every time you glance at a advertisment there, you are "paying" to use the site. When you use a public water fountain (I'm guessing that what you meant) the price of that water and the operation cost of the fountain is coming out of your (or someone's) taxes, the water isn't free.

At the very least, you are the recipient of charity.

[TheGoodNews]

T'Girl wrote:

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Youtube last year made about three and a half billion dollars in advertising revenues. Every time you glance at a advertisment there, you are "paying" to use the site. When you use a public water fountain (I'm guessing that what you meant) the price of that water and the operation cost of the fountain is coming out of your (or someone's) taxes, the water isn't free.

At the very least, you are the recipient of charity.

You are paying for it indirectly via taxation. Unless you're coming from out of state and it's not federally subsidized.

[cgervasi]

T'Girl wrote:

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Youtube last year made about three and a half billion dollars in advertising revenues. Every time you glance at a advertisment there, you are "paying" to use the site.

My point is the amount you're paying is very low because storing and providing the bits is trivially inexpensive. The market value associated with one view of an ad is very low. The market value of a few minutes of Internet service is very low.

The market value of a sip of water from a drinking fountain is similarly low.

I'm suggesting what if all manufactured goods became this easy to produce. We don't track the cost of drinking fountain water because it's trivially inexpensive. I'm guessing a long drink is worth less than $0.01 if you use residential rates, although you may be able to charge more at a park. The point is we don't track it with money, not because it's a significant charity program, but b/c it's trifling. Maybe all goods and services work that way in the Trek universe.