🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <8905310354.AA19565@athos.rutgers.edu> dbb@aicchi.UUCP writes:
>Does the birth of nanotech necessarily spell the death of
>commerce as we know it ? If everyone can obtain all the "things"
>they want from dirt/trash and a pinch of assemblers, will anyone
>pay for anything ? 

People's "wants" are unlimited, while raw materials -- for which
competition already exists -- are finite.  As long as there are
people there will be competition for raw materials.  If nanomachines
can turn dirt and trash into more valueable things at a low cost, people's
demand for dirt and trash will increase, and dirt and trash will
become more valuable.  Even if nanomachines reduced to zero the cost
of transforming matter from less valuable to more valuable forms,
competition for raw materials to feed these nanomachines would guarentee
that such materials will command a price on the market.  And so the
products made from these raw materials would also command a price.
Nanotechnology is not going to spell the death of the market or the
price system.  In fact, as artifacts and production processes become
more complex, markets and the price system will become even more
important.

Dan Offutt
offutt@caen.engin.umich.edu