# What should replace capitalism?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-replace-capitalism/575357>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 20, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-replace-capitalism/575357 "2011-03-20T14:39:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 21

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-replace-capitalism/575357/402 "2013-08-15T00:55:30Z")

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It’s possible. I think that in the future most people won’t be able to work even if they want to. Automation will see to that. In an ideal world, most things will be free anyway due to 3d printing and downloading. But if the technology falls a little short, we’re going to have to figure out how to deal with masses of jobless people. Hopefully, those with jobs will be so well off that we’ll be able to tax them at 5% or so and completely alleviate poverty.

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**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-replace-capitalism/575357/403 "2013-08-15T01:23:05Z")

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> [@butterss](#):
>
> My vote would be for a variant of post-scarcity. The advent of advanced 3d-printing to produce plastic goods convinces me that this new technology will, in the future, free us all from having to work for others and for those others not having to exploit the labor of others. My prediction is that within 50 years, humans (at least in the advanced societies of the world) will be self-sufficient in their acquisition of energy (solar, wind, or whatever new energy source comes along to replace fossil fuel consumption) and in their production of goods to live via a future generation of 3d printing (replicators from Star Trek - could be just right around the corner). Tell me what you think of this…

Just because you can 3-d print your own iphone at home (unlikely in the next 50 years), you’ll still need the raw materials with which to build the phone, wireless service, the data service, the ios to make it run and compatible with other phones, independent apps to use in the phone, music and podcasts to fill the phone, energy to charge the phone, and funds to purchase all of the aformentioned. Not to mention you need some guy to invent the iphone and the specs for your 3d printer in the first place, and you need that guy to invent the next iphone and publish the specs for that as well.

I don’t see how disseminating the manufacturing process from a centralized factory to many individual home factories suddenly makes the economy post-scarcity.

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