unknowns were being
researched.
For
example, take any "known" product -- shoes, clothes, food,
housing, furniture, appliances, housing, restaurants, parks, etc.
People were constantly coming up with new ideas to make them better
and better. For example, if you came up with a new style of clothing,
you would submit it and the robots would put it in the catalog. There
was no way to know whether your new style would resonate with 100
people or a million, and the robots didn't care. The only way to find
out was to let people have access to it. If someone had a new idea
for a restaurant, the robots would simulate it and ask 1,000 people
about their level of interest. If there was any interest at all, the
robots would try one copy of the restaurant out. If it took off, they
would make copies of it in different regions. In this way,
restaurants were constantly changing and improving. The same thing
was true of housing -- there were thousands of housing styles, and
you could move whenever you felt like it. If someone had a new way of
doing things, the robots would try it out.
Another
thing that helped innovation was the elimination of profit. In the
Australia Project, the robots made everything and delivered it. The
only "price" for anything you wanted was for the resources
consumed. The robots could make one copy or a million copies of
anything in the catalog, and they did not need to make a "profit"
from any of it.
In
a profit-driven society, a huge range of innovative products never
saw the light of day because they could not make a profit. A
technology or a product had to have enough people using it to cover
the costs of the people working on the product, the advertising, the
legal bills, the rent, etc. That meant that a lot of people had to be
using a product in order to bring the price down to a reasonable
level. In the Australia Project, that restriction was eliminated.
There were no advertising costs for example. Production and resources
were free. Anything that anyone could conceive could be produced, and
it would reach its natural audience. The size of the audience did not
matter. This meant a much wider range of products and services.
There
was a relatively small but highly regarded segment of the population
that got its fulfillment from fundamental scientific research. This
is the kind of research that figured out things like fusion power,
the origin of the universe and new materials. Throughout history,
these people had never worked for monetary reward as their primary
incentive. They worked instead for the joy of scientific discovery,
and for peer recognition. This was the same kind of thing driving the
open source movement at the turn of the century. The Australia
Project encouraged the creative work of scientists, engineers,
programmers, etc. by devoting a large block of the resources to them.
They could work in groups or individually, and they could work in
their personal areas of interest. Because the scientists and
engineers had the resources and freedom to work on whatever they
wanted, the creative process accelerated. The intellectual playground
offered by the Australia Project was perfect for them.
In
this way, each person in the Australia Project was able to seek and
find a truly fulfilling lifestyle. Those who wanted to lounge around
all day did so. Those who wanted to answer the mysteries of the
universe did that. If you decided you wanted to completely change
your lifestyle at any point, you could do that too.
One
of the more surprising divisions in the society was the difference
between the Vites and the Peas. There was a very large group of
people who, given a choice between the virtual world and the physical
world, preferred to live their lives virtually. They were known as
Vites. Burt, for example, became a Vite -- completely virtual. He
lived his life almost entirely in the virtual world. Vertebrane took
care of everything physical for him -- Eating, showering, using the
bathroom, exercising. This
researched.
For
example, take any "known" product -- shoes, clothes, food,
housing, furniture, appliances, housing, restaurants, parks, etc.
People were constantly coming up with new ideas to make them better
and better. For example, if you came up with a new style of clothing,
you would submit it and the robots would put it in the catalog. There
was no way to know whether your new style would resonate with 100
people or a million, and the robots didn't care. The only way to find
out was to let people have access to it. If someone had a new idea
for a restaurant, the robots would simulate it and ask 1,000 people
about their level of interest. If there was any interest at all, the
robots would try one copy of the restaurant out. If it took off, they
would make copies of it in different regions. In this way,
restaurants were constantly changing and improving. The same thing
was true of housing -- there were thousands of housing styles, and
you could move whenever you felt like it. If someone had a new way of
doing things, the robots would try it out.
Another
thing that helped innovation was the elimination of profit. In the
Australia Project, the robots made everything and delivered it. The
only "price" for anything you wanted was for the resources
consumed. The robots could make one copy or a million copies of
anything in the catalog, and they did not need to make a "profit"
from any of it.
In
a profit-driven society, a huge range of innovative products never
saw the light of day because they could not make a profit. A
technology or a product had to have enough people using it to cover
the costs of the people working on the product, the advertising, the
legal bills, the rent, etc. That meant that a lot of people had to be
using a product in order to bring the price down to a reasonable
level. In the Australia Project, that restriction was eliminated.
There were no advertising costs for example. Production and resources
were free. Anything that anyone could conceive could be produced, and
it would reach its natural audience. The size of the audience did not
matter. This meant a much wider range of products and services.
There
was a relatively small but highly regarded segment of the population
that got its fulfillment from fundamental scientific research. This
is the kind of research that figured out things like fusion power,
the origin of the universe and new materials. Throughout history,
these people had never worked for monetary reward as their primary
incentive. They worked instead for the joy of scientific discovery,
and for peer recognition. This was the same kind of thing driving the
open source movement at the turn of the century. The Australia
Project encouraged the creative work of scientists, engineers,
programmers, etc. by devoting a large block of the resources to them.
They could work in groups or individually, and they could work in
their personal areas of interest. Because the scientists and
engineers had the resources and freedom to work on whatever they
wanted, the creative process accelerated. The intellectual playground
offered by the Australia Project was perfect for them.
In
this way, each person in the Australia Project was able to seek and
find a truly fulfilling lifestyle. Those who wanted to lounge around
all day did so. Those who wanted to answer the mysteries of the
universe did that. If you decided you wanted to completely change
your lifestyle at any point, you could do that too.
One
of the more surprising divisions in the society was the difference
between the Vites and the Peas. There was a very large group of
people who, given a choice between the virtual world and the physical
world, preferred to live their lives virtually. They were known as
Vites. Burt, for example, became a Vite -- completely virtual. He
lived his life almost entirely in the virtual world. Vertebrane took
care of everything physical for him -- Eating, showering, using the
bathroom, exercising. This
Similar Books
