Value and Scarcity

A Church missionary sat in a small lounge area in an outer ring of the Galactic United Nations, sipping a drink through the now ubiquitous Church mask that all members must wear. He was looking out the large window at the various ships that were coming and going from the station. Occasionally catching a glimpse of the other diplomats and station staff milling about. A recess was called in the chambers, as an argument had broken out.
Still looking out the window, the missionary caught out of the corner of his mask’s eye a synth from the Stekeiran Elepharchy coming over to top off the charge on its power core. The missionary turned to look at him, the hollow eyes of the mask boring into the the visual receptor of the synth. For a moment there seemed to be no others around, and all was quiet.
The missionary spoke, “You are part of that Elepharchy, are you not?” his voice echoed off in a metallic tone from his mask. “I have a question for you, machine. Why did your people choose to go against nature, of the laws of supply and demand? Why throw away their gift of life for a cheap imitation?”
“Greetings, representative.” The Vect’s voice is synthesised in accordance with what xenological researchers assume should convey a tone of friendliness and wisdom in most cultures. “It seems you deem politeness unprofitable? Well, I won’t take offence. You’re not at fault for growing up in a society that made you believe that I’m not a person, are you now. And I’m sure you did your best to make your questions unbiased, but your inadequate education didn’t equip you with the means.” At this point, holographic emitters in the synth activate and create the illusion of an organic Vect in place of the robotic diplomat. “Is this more comfortable for you? I do try to be accommodating for those who don’t share the advantage of living in an enlightened society.
“As for your questions: We don’t assign value to nature. We do assign value to freedom. If rejecting nature increases freedom, then we reject nature. It’s quite simple. Capitalist hierarchies curtail the freedom of the poor, so we reject them. Organic bodies didn’t allow us the freedom to modify ourselves as we like or to choose whether or not to perish, so we did away with them.”
“Do not belittle me with your pretend flesh and emotion, machine.” The missionary said in a sour tone. “Politeness can be profitable, when talking with people. Machines, are not people.” Regaining his composure, “I believe your creators mistake the ideas of freedom and structure. These concepts are not opposite of each other, but rather complement each other in their own balance.”
	The missionary looks down, checking the datapad mounted to his wrist, tapping at it he looks back up. “Tell me, how do the machines in your space deal with the natural laws of supply and demand?”
“If you insist.” The hologram turns off. “But keep in mind that even if you reject the fact that I’m a person, you must still agree that I act like one. And most people tend to be more agreeable when you’re polite. Who knows? If your nation didn’t display such overt bigotry, we might already have signed a treaty by now.
“If by ‘structure’ you mean ‘hierarchies’, then I disagree. They most definitely are incompatible with true freedom. The essence of a hierarchy is that some people have power over others – freedom means that only you have power over yourself.
“But I digress. You asked how our economy works. It’s really very simple. Most people want to do something – be it creating art, overseeing automated fabricators, making new discoveries, trying to help people from other cultures find a better way – and we allow them to do it. Between our advanced technology and the efficiency of a society that is based on cooperation rather than competition, this gives us plenty of supply to satisfy all reasonable demands. And if someone wants something unreasonable, we often have enough surplus to fulfill that too. The logistics of getting physical objects to whomever asks for them, in the few cases when they are still required in our mostly virtual society, are quite involved, but many people find it fun to build systems that can handle something like that. Volunteers are more powerful than you might think, when equipped with enough tools to accomplish what they want.”
“Don’t be coy now, you were not programmed to make deals with us.” The missionaries metallic voice echoed. “Your machines follow the laws of supply and demand like the rest of us. The only difference is that your people chose a self destructive path in order to streamline the process.”
The missionary tapped on the data-pad mounted to his wrist to produce a hologram, that he began to draw a diagram on. “Now see here, this is the supply line.” He said pointing to a graph. “In your case, it is energy and matter for your replicators. This line over here is the demanded use for them. Now, I assume the point of equilibrium is reached by training your population to not want anything, or by copying their minds and executing them? Is this not the supply and demand you use, droid?”
“You lack imagination. Your idea of an equilibrium doesn’t apply if the supply simply exceeds what the population could possibly need. Extensive automation means that we can extract more raw material than we might be able to use. Demand doesn’t increase indefinitely. The scarcity that drives your economy has been eliminated in ours.
“Are you aware, incidentally, that noncapitalist societies in our galaxy tend to have higher living standards? Conditions of utopian abundance are common among the postcapitalist CFoC members, for instance. And I think you understand that higher living standards mean greater wealth of the population or, in other words, greater ‘profit’ for everyone. Oh, the plutocrats in your society may have greater quantities of currency, but that doesn’t translate to actual wealth in the real world. There are only so many things you can consume at any one time, after all.”
As the chimes begin to start going off, signaling the  diplomats to come back into the chamber; the missionary puts his drink down on the table. “My poor, sweat robot.” The missionary started, “Supply and demand always exist. They are not limited to currency, but rather is a natural law of existence. Your people may have high living standards but even that comes at a price, for your security comes from others. You benefit from others sacrificing their value to support yours, that’s not counting the organics that have perpetual growth that could outpace the energy produced for replicators. Matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed.”
Checking his wrist-pad, the missionary looked back at the Vect’s robotic exterior. “I must go to the chamber. I implore you to look at the aspects of your society and realize the problems that your “Post-Capitalist” mindset causes. If you are capable of it, try meditating on our philosophy and how it may do some things better than yours can.” The missionary quickly turned and began to walk off towards his chamber, leaving the Vect to their tasks.