In the future, if technology allows for everyone’s basic needs to be met, and there’s no money, how does an economy function? This is the sort of thought experiment that we love here at Overthinking It, which is why we were very excited to speak to Manu Saadia, the author of the upcoming book Trekonomics.
In our conversation with Manu, we dove deep into the theories and assumptions that drive the 24th century economy depicted in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and learned a few things about our present day economy as well. For example, in Starfleet’s labor market, workers aren’t paid with money, they’re paid with recognition and reputation…kind of like social media personalities who are in it for likes, followers, and views. (Speaking of which: follow us on Instagram, please!)
Later that day, Manu appeared on a panel with Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, which basically means that if I could hold my own in a conversation on economics with Manu, in a way, I too am a Nobel laureate. In a way.
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