What would happen if suddenly everything was free?

Id be getting as high as i could right now.

Nothing would have any value. Many people would waste because they can always get more without worrying about cost. Others would hoard stuff because they know that resources, though free, are limited. Eventually, once everybody grabbed up all the free stuff, they would start trading one thing for another. Those without might prostitute themselves to get what they need. If somebody needed goods or services from somebody else, but had nothing that that person wanted in exchange, they could trade with somebody else first. When that became too cumbersome, somebody would come up with the idea of a “token” system where the token would represent a certain value that could be exchanged for said goods/services. Once it became too difficult to carry the tokens around, they would likely be converted to paper tokens. Eventually the economy would become so large that the paper tokens would become cumbersome as well, so a type of credit system would be developed. Then somebody would start wondering, “What would happen if suddenly everything was free?”

There wouldn’t be any products to be had, except what you could produce yourself. Manufacturers and suppliers will not incur the expense and energy to produce goods if there were no profit involved.

…but then there’s no expense, either. Everything is free.

That is very Utopian and no IMO it cannot work. Even the earliest civilizations had currency.

Without a currency the world would regress to barter. Our society is too advanced to function purely upon bartering. The logistics alone are impossible. Currency in any form is a necessary part of society. It’s a common intermediary to barter.

Work is still necessary. If a person stops working then they have taken away their means for supporting themselves and must then become self sufficient. You could do this now. There are those in today’s society who choose to do so. The homeless for instance.

Damn it, @ru2bz46 beat me to it. ;)

@poofandmook, But there is a cost involved. Opportunity costs. Why would anyone spnd their time working when they could be doing something pleasurable. where will the workers come from? Who will work in a factory to produce nuts and bolts, or cars or anything? What would their incentive be? Who would even bother to build a factory? They would simply produce one car for themselves and quit.

We’d loose interest in everything, of course.

Lurves for you, @asmonet, for thinking like me. ;-)

Here’s one version of what that would look like.

@kevbo In the pictured city, who gets the penthouse apartment? What does one have to do to get it?

If it’s all free, who cares?

and did you read the rest?

@kevbo “If it’s all free, who cares?” It may be free, but I’m stuck in this botton-level apartment. I want to be in your penthouse apartment. What can I give you to make the trade mutually beneficial?

Yes, I read the rest. Apparently, we no longer need more than a couple types of tools. What about a better tool? I have a good idea for a more efficient screwdriver. How can I get that produced? Oh, there’s no need for a better screwdriver because we have all the screwdrivers we need, and they’re already distributed? Oh, I guess I’ll let that innovative idea die with the others since there is no incentive to innovate.

Hey, my wife and I want to have a baby. What? We can’t have a baby because the balance would be thrown off? But Mr. and Mrs. Jones have two children, and we don’t have any. What’s up with that? Can we have one of their kids?

@kevbo Who would build that complex? Where would they get the raw materials and tools? Is a group of people going to single handedly make concrete, cut timber, make the logs into usable lumber and plywood, make mortar, make bricks, blow glass, forge steel, build the bulldozers needed and then build it? Even if that were possible, would they let anyone who wants to, just live there without having helped build it? This entire scenario is as @tekn0lust stated, an unworkable situation.

Okay. I’m not up for debating this, just answering the question.

“Nothing from Nothing Leaves Nothing”. I do not understand the concept of free. One reaps what he sows. Tell a man that all is free and he will weigh 350 lbs. and have the intelligence of a baboon.

Here’s another take explaining that everything is already free (or at least paid for).

@ru2bz46: Ripped again! I’ll make sure not to fall asleep as long and give you so much time with our brain.

I personally don’t want ANYTHING I haven’t worked for.

We’d be spending a lot less money. Would it work? Probably not. Why not? Because of what @ru2bz46 said above. He covered it pretty well.

Sorry @VzzBzz, but you should know by now to put that foil hat on before you lay your head down…

There is no way to make everything free. As many have pointed out, there is a cost in producing things, even if it isn’t money. It is measured in time, and no one wants to give their time away without compensation. There is another cost known as scarcity, where there isn’t enough to go around, the value becomes in deciding who gets it and who doesn’t.

greed would overcome and we’d turn into dirtbags
the greedy would be dirtbags because they would be lazy and filch off the workers
the workers would be dirtbags because the greedy would filch of us…
see what i did there?

People would barter information and services and own their own labor. Work would be for exchange instead of for an overseer. Capitalism nor Socialism would prevail, a new system which we have probably not surmised would arise. I do not believe we would return to an old tribalism, it is violent and people fear violence. We are all experts at something. Expertise and information would be our exchange. Everyone would be forced to find their true niche. People would most likely focus on real needs instead of wealth. Might be a nice world to live in.

Another note: Are any of us being paid to respond to this or to think? I am not, yet I still think, and I am still involved in a life outside of the workforce. All of you here are thinking and compelled to answer, yet there is no payment.