馃攳
Will Minecraft and Makerbot Usher in the Post-Scarcity Economy? | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios - YouTube
Channel: PBS Idea Channel
[0]
here's an idea minecraft and the
[1]
MakerBot are ushering in the
[3]
post-scarcity economy even if you're not
[9]
an indie game nerd there's a pretty good
[10]
chance that you've heard of Minecraft
[11]
developed by Mojang minecraft is sort of
[14]
like Legos Meets The Sims meets Night of
[17]
the Living Dead with a little splash of
[18]
Dwarf Fortress if you've never played
[20]
Dwarf Fortress go play it right now and
[22]
then come back okay so minecraft it has
[25]
two modes of play the first is called
[26]
adventure mode where you just kind of
[28]
like plop down in the middle of nowhere
[30]
and left to figure it out you can punch
[32]
trees to get wood you can build tools
[33]
and build a house you defend it from
[35]
monsters you dig and punch and craft and
[37]
dig and don't get eaten by monsters
[39]
there's no tidy ending to the game and
[41]
there's no real goal so it's just like
[43]
real life and in keeping with real life
[45]
nests when you use something it's gone
[47]
because resources are limited creative
[50]
mode however is a little different there
[52]
are no monsters and you can conjure
[54]
unlimited resources out of thin air like
[56]
poof diamond all day long I'm rich I
[60]
tells you have fun rich which means with
[62]
a little ingenuity some patience and the
[63]
help of some nifty programs you can make
[65]
whatever you'd like free of worry but
[69]
more than being an infinite erector set
[71]
minecraft creative mode demonstrates a
[72]
really interesting theoretical economic
[75]
concept the post-scarcity economy in
[78]
case you haven't read down and out in
[79]
the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow I'm
[81]
about to explain modern economics is
[83]
built on the idea of scarcity if I buy a
[86]
car it's mine and there is now one less
[88]
car for sale and that car it costs money
[91]
because it's made out of stuff that's
[93]
not free and that it takes work to get
[95]
and that we can run out of now ready
[98]
your brain muscle imagine if that wasn't
[100]
the case imagine if we could make cars
[102]
houses computers food everything without
[106]
losing resources this seemingly
[108]
far-fetched situation is called the
[110]
post-scarcity economy and minecraft
[112]
demonstrates it perfectly in adventure
[114]
mode like in real life resources are
[117]
scarce in creative mode everyone is
[119]
totally free of what so what do they do
[121]
they're certainly not going to do work
[123]
like manually chopping down trees or
[125]
hunting pigs
[126]
because they don't have to I mean you
[128]
could if you wanted to but you'd
[129]
probably want to spend your time making
[130]
giant mansions huge statues the Taj
[133]
Mahal rollercoasters or scale models of
[135]
Earth now I know what you're thinking
[139]
because I can read your mind there will
[140]
never be a time where we can just make
[144]
whatever we want all right maybe not but
[147]
also maybe yeah allow me to introduce
[149]
you to the MakerBot it's a little robot
[151]
that makes stuff let's say you have a 3d
[153]
model of a creeper you just push a
[155]
button wait a little while and then
[156]
blamo you have a creeper in real life
[159]
except if not the one that explodes no
[161]
not into creepers that's cool how about
[163]
custom jewelry clothing historical
[166]
artifacts famous works of art or
[167]
burritos engineers have sussed out ways
[170]
to 3d print things like edible meat
[172]
human organs prosthetic bones and even
[174]
totally new chemical compounds and those
[177]
chemical compounds they were printed on
[178]
the machine that cost only $2,000 that's
[181]
about as much as a nice iMac no we're
[183]
not quite at nano robots or matter
[186]
transmogrifier do Burres yet but the
[189]
MakerBot and its pals like the desktop
[191]
CNC machine and the benchtop laser
[193]
cutter really are bringing manufacturing
[194]
right into your home place spot just
[198]
maybe not organ manufacturing which is
[200]
probably a good thing add to this the
[202]
fact that Autodesk has released a piece
[204]
of software which will let you make a 3d
[206]
scan of any object using your iPhone and
[209]
that websites like Thingiverse and The
[211]
Pirate Bay's visibles database means
[213]
that you can share every object you make
[215]
I could literally email you a spoon I
[219]
hope that blows your mind because it
[221]
blows mine but yes you're right the
[224]
MakerBot still needs plastic which
[226]
though plentiful is a finite resource as
[228]
are the parts that make up the MakerBot
[230]
but it is pretty easy to turn this
[232]
future frown upside down
[234]
if we think of Minecraft as a kind of
[235]
proto scarcity caricature and the
[238]
MakerBot as a kind of proto whatever
[240]
that machine in the Jetsons was called
[242]
it becomes pretty clear that for as long
[244]
as Moore's law is true this stuff will
[246]
only get cheaper more powerful and
[248]
easier to use while it might not happen
[250]
in my lifetime
[251]
maybe my grandkids will be printing out
[253]
functional pianos edible foods or life
[256]
models of the USS Enterprise what do you
[258]
guys think what does a post-scarcity
[260]
economy even look like and does the
[262]
MakerBot play a role let us know in the
[264]
comments and there were a lot of really
[269]
great fanfic thoughts let's see what you
[271]
guys had to say chu Manama asks if a
[273]
game of thrones fanfic would be less
[275]
sexual probably not a couple people
[279]
point out that the Bible might actually
[281]
be the source of the first fanfiction I
[284]
totally agree and I'm really looking
[285]
forward to that
[286]
zombie Jesus action movie that's coming
[288]
out the only nita offered to write a
[290]
fanfic about me and any youtuber of my
[292]
choice so I thought really long and hard
[293]
about it and I chose Shannon Coffey from
[295]
Coffey chat so Shannon came over to help
[298]
us brainstorm some ideas to help you get
[300]
started building media so here they are
[301]
setting like Wild West yeah yeah except
[304]
no guns okay there's just unit our
[307]
horses and guitars okay
[308]
maybe these horses are really good
[310]
musicians we're accidentally writing
[312]
this fanfiction for you yeah you do the
[314]
work bank heist we steal a bunch of
[316]
popcorn out of the bank the popcorn Bank
[319]
one day we wake up and we're covered in
[320]
polka dots the new disease we got a cure
[323]
it I would like to have a pencil-thin
[325]
moustache it's a mystery
[327]
the moustache is the mystery what about
[329]
our outcome velvet no romance just
[331]
become Freddy Krueger style I don't look
[333]
that good in stripes but I look great
[335]
with pizza skin
[341]
alright so there are some ideas to help
[343]
you get started we'll look for something
[344]
in our email the link is right over
[346]
there and for everyone else if you don't
[347]
watch Coffey chat you should watch it
[350]
Shannon is very funny she will beat you
[353]
up
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage