The reason that Star Trek's Federation has moved "beyond money" is not because they became "more enlightened", though I'm sure that that's a conceit many in that world would want to cling to. It's because they invented the replicator. The replicator removes physical scarcity. It converts matter nearly losslessly into all the energy anyone could ever dream to want, and then can turn that energy back into whatever matter anyone could ever want. No scarcity means that so much of the economics we deal with in our real universe has been obviated. It's not enlightenment. You want to do away with money and wealth inequality? Invent an open-source replicator.
But seriously, see my previous comment on the idea that the replicator solves all problems of scarcity. In reality, such a device would require a vast infrastructure and astronomical quantities of energy.
It's true that the replicator would require incredibly large quantities of energy. Which is why it would have to be invented in two phases. First, it would have to convert matter to energy. We have plenty of waste matter, and since E=mc^2, even a little matter turns into a LOT of energy. Once the nearly limitless energy is absorbed into our infrastructure, society, and culture, the second half of the invention, turning all that energy back into digitized patterns of matter, becomes possible.
The reason that Star Trek's Federation has moved "beyond money" is not because they became "more enlightened", though I'm sure that that's a conceit many in that world would want to cling to. It's because they invented the replicator. The replicator removes physical scarcity. It converts matter nearly losslessly into all the energy anyone could ever dream to want, and then can turn that energy back into whatever matter anyone could ever want. No scarcity means that so much of the economics we deal with in our real universe has been obviated. It's not enlightenment. You want to do away with money and wealth inequality? Invent an open-source replicator.
I'll get right on that, after I'm done with my perpetual motion machine.
But seriously, see my previous comment on the idea that the replicator solves all problems of scarcity. In reality, such a device would require a vast infrastructure and astronomical quantities of energy.
https://www.tracinskiletter.com/p/what-the-trekonomics-fantasy-gets-wrong-about-the-economics-of-the-future
It's true that the replicator would require incredibly large quantities of energy. Which is why it would have to be invented in two phases. First, it would have to convert matter to energy. We have plenty of waste matter, and since E=mc^2, even a little matter turns into a LOT of energy. Once the nearly limitless energy is absorbed into our infrastructure, society, and culture, the second half of the invention, turning all that energy back into digitized patterns of matter, becomes possible.
I know a guy who did invent one, but it burns coal.