Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony
The things where THS catches flak are not cases where 3D printing is useful. The general wealth level of the society is way too low for 3D printing to work the way it works in UT. It can work the way it works in the THS core book as long as it can't be used to produce feedstock (or if it can, does so 2 orders of magnitude slower than its general production rate; 'divide production rate by 100 if working from raw materials' eliminates the problems).
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It's worth noting that the world of THS
is very wealthy by our standards. Most of Europe and the PRA, and parts of the US, are Wealthy with a capital W, which implies an average Status of 2. Here's how
Changing Times describes Status 2:
Quote:
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A large house with interior automation and grounds, maybe other property, a couple of smartcars, a static AI that manages your domestic (including Web) and security requirements plus a wearable or implant, and full medical coverage.
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Once you get wealthier than that, the constraints on your lifestyle start to be not "stuff" but the availability of desirable real-estate and the cost of hiring human servants. The above quote conspicuously omits air cars as well, but the TCO on those is going to include cost of fuel, which will inevitably be more expensive than the fuel for ground vehicles. The kind of people who can actually afford to operate them are really not going to want to get arrested for pirating a luxury good.