There's some related discussion here : alt-money.tribe.net/thread/4...9b0645e43

Here's another hint. Music is basically so incredibly cheap to copy and distribute that it behaves much like free. So, powerful interest groups lobby the government to pass ever more draconian laws to simulate that it's actually a scarce, tradably property.

If we get the engines of creation in the wrong context I guess the emphasis will move to protecting the designs and patterns used to create things, rather than the things themselves. And then using them as vehicle to keep a "property trading" economy going.

First off, we'll never even make it as far as such complicated systems over nanotech unless we face off against other dilemas first...

...Namely the source of funding for most of these nanotech programs...

The rich are being sold a "bill of goods" which includes (but is not limited by any means to); immortality, invulnerability, increased mental abilities, and near eternal control over their infinitely growing material empire... *MUAHAHAHA*

So, to put this all into perspective, here, what do you suppose is going to happen once one of... oh hell why even narrow it down to a specific classification; *any* human decides to put the little nanites in themselves so that they just perpetually regenerate them, and they begin to call themselves "God"...

And then, to top it all off, they actually start acting like it... (while everyone else "can't afford such mysteries")
Because it's the folks seeking immortality (a fairly simple nanotech proceedure, once the whole being has been nano-mapped; but who knows how long that will take) who are funding this stuff...

That's why it's already here... (Thankfully they're still missing a few "key ingredients" (from biochemistry) to make it all gel, but you know how fanatically determined not to die people are when they've got money; they'll find a way...)

No, before we will ever be capable of handling nanotechnology without eventually obliterating ourselves is to first tackle and outgrow our current attitudes towards "the acceptibility of war as a political expression" together, we don't make that hurdle, and we'd end "jumping the hurdle" in the worst possible way - a leg on either side...

*ALL* bets would be off - those that survived (or evolved into something that could survive) may get lucky enough to carry on *some* kind of legacy, depending on how "creatively accurate" they were about their adaptations to the greater supranature...

Yeah, anyways, I'll shut up now... LOL!

This seems pretty obvious. This is just the eventual trend we've seen over the last hundred or two years continued into the future.

Some resoucres will no longer be scarce: manufacturing

Some will: real estate / services

The costs of manufactured goods will drop to near zero. But consider that right now probably 80% of your living expenses are taken up by things that nano-assemblers can't build.... such as rent, taxes, energy, real estate, services from other people. People would still work hard so they can get the slice of the pie they want. They want a waiter so serve them food that was hand made by a chef. They want to visit the Bahamas for vacation. They want the big Malibu house. We'd still need to fight over these things by working hard cooking food and selling Bahama vacations to each other. Honestly, if manufacturing costs went to zero my life would not change very much b/c I already have a car, a powerbook, a TV, a desk, a sofa and a bed. I really can't think of what else in the manufactured goods department I really want. Maybe a nicer car and a faster powerbook, but really, the costs of manufactured goods have already dropped to such a low level they don't mean much anymore. Now, we might see the state of the art of manufactured goods level off if its not possible inventing the next Intel chip or the next Lexus, but that will depend on IP laws in that era.

And consider this... for minimum wage in the USA you could live a life of 18th century luxury today. No electricity. No running water. No car. So for someone from the 18th century, today is a utopia since even the poorest people have more than they did then. If nano-assemblers appeared, we'd just raise the bar of what we want out of life and work hard to get it. SOMETHING will be scarce and we'll work our asses off all our lives to get it. Don't believe me? They tell me why you're not cashing out your 401k and getting a cash advance on your VISA selling your car and moving to Sierra Leone to retire tomorrow? The answer is: no matter what, if you CAN have more, you want more.