Ask Lemmy

Post-scarcity doesn't mean that everyone can have everything, though. It just accomplishes the goal of UBI, satisfying basic needs.

I'm only about 3/4 of the way through TNG so I am probably setting myself up to be corrected, but it's not like you can simply replicate things like a personal starship or a palatial mansion in the mountains. Some people still have assets with inherent value which are relatively exclusive.

Replicators allow everyone's basic needs to be met—to live comfortably, even—but it seems like some goods still need to be either rationed selectively or distributed based on merit. People still "own" things; property still exists. People still work jobs that they hate, so there must be a reason they put up with it. Some Federation citizens also still turn to crime, indicating that they desire more than the system otherwise provides. And even with the abolition of traditional currency, the concept of generational wealth still exists, as we see with Picard's family estate.

Regarding Holodecks in particular, they seem like things that normal people have access to, but they don't seem to be common in homes (at least from the examples I've seen so far). I assume it must be something like movie theaters: most people use public ones, while bigwigs might have their own they can use whenever. And anything that is public must be time or resource regulated in some fashion, so at some point someone would order you to leave so others could use it.

At least based on what I've seen so far, it seems like an economy still exists within the Federation, just a more abstract one than we are used to seeing in the real world.