Portable Intrinsic Wealth in Ultra Tech

[ericthered]

I'm looking at several scenario's here, but the primary one is about what a wealthy refuge fleeing a system after political collapse should bring with them. The following factors are in play:

• Precious metals are in much lower demand due to asteroid mining
• The System had its own electronic monetary system that traded with other systems, but the system either collapsed or is in the process of collapsing
• The refuge can't carry much more than 100 lbs of luggage
• Information could be worth something, but I'd like to know how you're going to get foreign governments to enforce your last minute acquisition of disputed copyrights, ensure your trade secrets are unique, or have data other systems actually want
• Foreign currencies have skyrocketed in value compared to the local currency as everyone else tries to leave the system at the last moment

So what is the best thing to fill your 100 lbs of luggage with? How do you pack the most value into the least space? What sorts of items do exiled space barons pawn?

As a secondary question, what do the crooks who like to trade in items of intrinsic value use?

[Daigoro]

What TL are we looking at?

[Ulzgoroth]

It's not a pretty picture, especially if what you need isn't something the wealthy already hoard for status display. Scooping up your system's most interstellar-famous works of fine art or cultural historical significance might work, but it probably doesn't work for as many people as want to take advantage of it.

You haven't said anything about manufacturing. SF settings often invent some kind of extremely valuable yet more or less fungible manufactured good that can fill this niche. Often high performance computronium or some kind of nanomachines.

For high-value data, your best legal-ish bet is probably cutting edge research. It may be replicated elsewhere (and if you're not careful, you may not get the only copy from your supplier) but anybody who already has it doesn't want to disseminate it broadly, giving you a chance to sell it. Finding the right buyer might be challenging.

Possibly the very best bet for information is blackmail material on somebody who has already secured their economic situation somehow. Either a foreign traveler or another refugee who has better assets than you.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by ericthered

I'm looking at several scenario's here, but the primary one is about what a wealthy refuge fleeing a system after political collapse should bring with them. The following factors are in play:

• Precious metals are in much lower demand due to asteroid mining
• The System had its own electronic monetary system that traded with other systems, but the system either collapsed or is in the process of collapsing
• The refuge can't carry much more than 100 lbs of luggage
• Information could be worth something, but I'd like to know how you're going to get foreign governments to enforce your last minute acquisition of disputed copyrights, ensure your trade secrets are unique, or have data other systems actually want
• Foreign currencies have skyrocketed in value compared to the local currency as everyone else tries to leave the system at the last moment

So what is the best thing to fill your 100 lbs of luggage with? How do you pack the most value into the least space? What sorts of items do exiled space barons pawn?

As a secondary question, what do the crooks who like to trade in items of intrinsic value use?

Electronic currency

Craft-intensive artificial jewelry.

Stocks, bonds, bills of exchange, or other abstract valuation unit.

Artifacts.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

What TL are we looking at?

I'd say TL10, with a mildly conservative hard science fiction bent, plus FTL (that still takes weeks to go between civilization centers)

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

You haven't said anything about manufacturing. SF settings often invent some kind of extremely valuable yet more or less fungible manufactured good that can fill this niche. Often high performance computronium or some kind of nanomachines.

I haven't set anything out yet. I suspect that's the winning product, but I'm curious what it is if I don't declare it via fiat. If anything, this society has cheap manufacturing to go with their cheap access to minerals.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Electronic currency

.....

Stocks, bonds, bills of exchange, or other abstract valuation unit.

If they're domestic, they're rapidly becoming worthless, and if they're foreign they're rapidly becoming impossible to buy. That's point 4 in the OP.

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Artifacts.

...Presumably you don't mean 'literally anything made by sapient beings'...

[AlexanderHowl]

Precursor artifacts, fossils of ancient lifeforms, and authentic cultural artifacts would be acceptable. Beyond those, I really do not think that there would be much transferable wealth other than currency metals. For example, if the value of gold dropped to $1 per gram, you could have money going back to the gold standard, especially if central governments literally possessed sufficient gold reserves to back up their money. In that case, 40 kg of gold would only be worth $40,000 though.

One of the problems with being an interstellar refugee if there is no central interstellar government is that you have nothing to offer people. They might be willing to house you and give you a basic wage picking up trash, but the average person is not that valuable. Of course, doctors and scientists might be able depend on their education to make them more valuable, but that depends on the nature of the setting. At best though, most refugees would only expect a Poor Income, though that would still be sufficient for Status 0.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

One of the problems with being an interstellar refugee if there is no central interstellar government is that you have nothing to offer people. They might be willing to house you and give you a basic wage picking up trash, but the average person is not that valuable. Of course, doctors and scientists might be able depend on their education to make them more valuable, but that depends on the nature of the setting. At best though, most refugees would only expect a Poor Income, though that would still be sufficient for Status 0.

Why do you have less to offer people than literally anybody else?

[whswhs]

In one of Vernor Vinge's novels, ships travel between the stars carrying cargoes of numerical encryption keys. If you have a read once medium, their value ought to be fairly secure.

Of course, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as "intrinsic" wealth. Value is always relative to the needs of a functional system, and is dependent on scarcity. Heinlein has a line somewhere about the value of one more kitten on a Kansas farm. . . .

[Flyndaran]

Supply increased dramatically with all the other refugees, while demand is unlikely to increase much at all.
That tends to make citizens of the local area demand extra hassles for major influxes of immigrants like slow acquiring of licenses to practice high end skills.