Replicators don’t replaces services, just goods. Most people aren’t willing to render services for free.
The replicators also use enormous amounts of energy. They’re basically nukes in reverse. They “solve” this problem with anti-matter but the anti-matter reaction seems to require trilithium. And as we know from several episodes, trilithium is definitely not an unlimited resources.
The economy might not involve anyone hand-making widgets but there would be a lot of economics around acquiring, processing and distributing trilithium.
We’d probably need a very similar model.
Replicators don’t replaces services, just goods. Most people aren’t willing to render services for free.
The replicators also use enormous amounts of energy. They’re basically nukes in reverse. They “solve” this problem with anti-matter but the anti-matter reaction seems to require trilithium. And as we know from several episodes, trilithium is definitely not an unlimited resources.
The economy might not involve anyone hand-making widgets but there would be a lot of economics around acquiring, processing and distributing trilithium.
Well shoot. I hadn’t even included the problem that latinum can’t be replicated.