How should we pay for things in space?

[dree12]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication.

By the time we're sufficiently advanced to quantum tunnel data or are establishing miniature wormholes for FTL transmission, is it not likely the whole concept of money is outdated by then?

I am not sure the concept of money can become outdated? Even if we live in an egalitarian utopia, there will still be reasons to put value on things for accounting and making decisions and stuff.

The "medium of exchange" may become outdated when everyone can manufacture anything. Already, 3D printers are spreading to each and every home. Eventually, we may return to the barter system, as we would always have something the people we are to do business with want.

[madmadmax]

People are way, way, wayyyy, over their head.

We are a bunch of pseudointelligent evolved monkeys floating around on a rock, we can't even invent a cure for acne let alone posses the intellect to populate other planets, Earth has been nice enough to let us live for a couple million years provided we don't cause any problem or else we'd be shaken off like fleas, it has been here for billions of years before us and will stay here for billions of years after us.

The average American can't even see through the thick layer of shit put on his forehead every single day, populating other planets would be tens of thousands of years away after global world peace/harmony, which is a state we will unlikely to ever reach.

Certainly not. At present rates of planet destruction, populating other planets will become a priority within a hundred years. Additional death-rate decreases will cause a population explosion by the late 21^st century. Humans will need to migrate off within 200 years, or risk extinction as a species.

Could be that earth has summoned us just to manufacture plastic and warm it up a bit with global warming, we are certainly not a threat to anything and won't ever will be.

Lemme tell you, I was on this cure and it's not funny. But it does work.

Pimple-face pimple-face! 

[greyhawk]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication.

By the time we're sufficiently advanced to quantum tunnel data or are establishing miniature wormholes for FTL transmission, is it not likely the whole concept of money is outdated by then?

I am not sure the concept of money can become outdated? Even if we live in an egalitarian utopia, there will still be reasons to put value on things for accounting and making decisions and stuff.

Not if we have a Molecular Assembler, there won't be. And I'm reasonably sure we'll get that before FTL.

[Peter Lambert]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication.

By the time we're sufficiently advanced to quantum tunnel data or are establishing miniature wormholes for FTL transmission, is it not likely the whole concept of money is outdated by then?

I am not sure the concept of money can become outdated? Even if we live in an egalitarian utopia, there will still be reasons to put value on things for accounting and making decisions and stuff.

Not if we have a Molecular Assembler, there won't be. And I'm reasonably sure we'll get that before FTL.

Time is still finite, so if you want other people to do things for you then you will have to pay them. There is more to life than just stuff.

And won't you need to buy power and raw materials for your molecular assembler to run on?

[dree12]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication.

By the time we're sufficiently advanced to quantum tunnel data or are establishing miniature wormholes for FTL transmission, is it not likely the whole concept of money is outdated by then?

I am not sure the concept of money can become outdated? Even if we live in an egalitarian utopia, there will still be reasons to put value on things for accounting and making decisions and stuff.

Not if we have a Molecular Assembler, there won't be. And I'm reasonably sure we'll get that before FTL.

Time is still finite, so if you want other people to do things for you then you will have to pay them. There is more to life than just stuff.

And won't you need to buy power and raw materials for your molecular assembler to run on?

Raw materials are unnecessary because anyone will be able to assemble them. The point of a molecular assembler .

Energy would likely be used as a medium of exchange, but only unofficially. For example, paying 185 PJ for a new spaceship.

[greyhawk]

By the time we get into serious space settlement, we will have developed the technology to allow faster than light communication.

By the time we're sufficiently advanced to quantum tunnel data or are establishing miniature wormholes for FTL transmission, is it not likely the whole concept of money is outdated by then?

I am not sure the concept of money can become outdated? Even if we live in an egalitarian utopia, there will still be reasons to put value on things for accounting and making decisions and stuff.

Not if we have a Molecular Assembler, there won't be. And I'm reasonably sure we'll get that before FTL.

Time is still finite, so if you want other people to do things for you then you will have to pay them. There is more to life than just stuff.

And won't you need to buy power and raw materials for your molecular assembler to run on?

Well, you'll need a virtually inexhaustible free power supply anyways for the whole wormhole thing. For raw materials you just shovel sand and crap in there. Grab an asteroid or two if you absolutely need some specific elements.