I'm actually convinced the future of economic activity will involve lots of live performance.
Extrapolating the trends of automation I see fewer and fewer people involved in the production and distribution of physical goods. Distribution is set for a major workforce implosion with automated packaging and transportation. Production is already largely automated, and becoming more so. Meanwhile, demand for physical goods is at or near peak capacity in much of the world, so cheaper distribution will not mean more goods will be needed.
So, I suspect the majority of the workforce will not be involved in the physical part of the economy, not in production, distribution or services. The economy requires scarcity, but it does not require physicality. What is more scarce than digital live performance? Why couldn't NPC's in games be real people? Why should it be strange to earn a living live-acting a role in a game, and then spending most of your money on live-created digital goods?
The current IP laws make an assumption of mass-distributed centrally-produced IP, and that's why they won't hold in this individualized IP future. Currently the digital economy is run by the agents of mass-distribution: the MPAA, apple, microsoft and so on. While they may seem all-powerful now, in a 100 years their model of everyone owning the same product will seem quaint and archaic. Why would you want the exact same product as your neighbor?
Extrapolating the trends of automation I see fewer and fewer people involved in the production and distribution of physical goods. Distribution is set for a major workforce implosion with automated packaging and transportation. Production is already largely automated, and becoming more so. Meanwhile, demand for physical goods is at or near peak capacity in much of the world, so cheaper distribution will not mean more goods will be needed.
So, I suspect the majority of the workforce will not be involved in the physical part of the economy, not in production, distribution or services. The economy requires scarcity, but it does not require physicality. What is more scarce than digital live performance? Why couldn't NPC's in games be real people? Why should it be strange to earn a living live-acting a role in a game, and then spending most of your money on live-created digital goods?
The current IP laws make an assumption of mass-distributed centrally-produced IP, and that's why they won't hold in this individualized IP future. Currently the digital economy is run by the agents of mass-distribution: the MPAA, apple, microsoft and so on. While they may seem all-powerful now, in a 100 years their model of everyone owning the same product will seem quaint and archaic. Why would you want the exact same product as your neighbor?