Post-scarcity Poverty

File this one under gritty post-singularity space-operas…

Let’s imagine a post-scarcity economy. You done yet? Good. Now, what about this economy’s poor?

In a far-future utopia where people can conjure matter and energy out of the quantum foam, nobody starves, nobody freezes or runs out of air. Everyone has access to education, entertainment, and political agency. But some people still wind up knowing more, having more fun, having more power.

And if some people have more, others by definition must have less. These will be the people who don’t produce services that people value. They can’t design beautiful spaceships or wedding dresses. They can’t cook or tell jokes or run a role-playing campaign any better than an AI, so they lack the social credit to gain access to the genius works of those who can. The 31st century’s poor live like gods compared to the wealthiest, most powerful people in the 21st century, but these gods are unfashionable, classless. Discontent.

What do you think they do all day?