What would commerce look like in a uptopian world?

[Farm Boy]

So much sprawl and destruction. It's not the landfills.

 

[aelf]

I suppose if I had to define in a general sense what I would consider ideal, it would be a condition whereby all human labor becomes an act of personal interest rather than economic necessity.

Ah, a new communist appears

 

[TheMeInTeam]

meeting necessity is in one's interest

the cost of everyone getting a pony is too high. even if you try to fudge your currency

 

[innonimatu]

When people claim society now is better than its ever been they often point to the wide availability of consumer goods, as if that's one of the pillars of human joy.

Which people point to that, really? The ones who come to mind are those who seek any argument to justify an à priori assertion that "we've never had it better than now".

If you do accept the argument, it is more about production that commerce isn't it?To have consumer goods available they first have to be produced. And there is no need to produce them on the otehr side of the world and depend on a very complex logistics chain is there?

 

[Moriarte]

How would the creation, selling & disposal/recycling of goods (and services minus the last bit) work in an ideal world?

Depends who’s ideal it is. Communist utopia strives to get rid of commerce. Creation of abundance of goods coupled with advanced means of logistics would make many elements of modern commerce obsolete. Fascist utopia would still heavily rely on commerce, I suppose. State encourages competition between various commercial groups so they can feast on each other and thus prove their survivability, relevance.

It’s a very broad question, maybe too broad.

 

[Narz]

Which people point to that, really? The ones who come to mind are those who seek any argument to justify an à priori assertion that "we've never had it better than now".

If you do accept the argument, it is more about production that commerce isn't it?To have consumer goods available they first have to be produced. And there is no need to produce them on the otehr side of the world and depend on a very complex logistics chain is there?

Hand in hand no? To risk money on product design, a factory, etc you have to anticipate enuf demand to make a profit.

It’s a very broad question, maybe too broad.

Probably

 

[amadeus]

Ah, a new communist appears

You could take it that way, or you could take it the other way and go full Ayn Rand capitalism. I don’t think either extreme has the potential to get us to that point; at least with regards to the general welfare, a degree of protection of commerce and individual well-being is still a necessity.

 

[sophie]

You could take it that way, or you could take it the other way and go full Ayn Rand capitalism. I don’t think either extreme has the potential to get us to that point; at least with regards to the general welfare, a degree of protection of commerce and individual well-being is still a necessity.

You’re still situated firmly within the Marxist tradition.

 

[Tee Kay]

The OP's question seems to refer more to managing the environmental cost of consumption rather than the economic system in which the consumption happen so I'll answer that

Firstly, there should be very little habitat destruction. Cities should be denser than the current American average, and human settlements should be built in a way that allows wildlife to flourish alongside as much as possible. Where possible industrial monoculture is replaced by agroforests. Habitat fragmentation is minimised with the use of wildlife corridors.

Almost product should be recycled, or quickly biodegrades at a minimum. There should be much tighter controls over the use of plastics. They're really the antibiotics of the material world - they're wonderful and marvellous but we've been using them far too much.

Obviously energy generation will need to be as "clean" as possible, not based on fossil fuels. I think renewables have an edge over nuclear if we're going for minimum environmental impact, but it depends on how you go about it and what you prioritise.

Commercial activities under whatever economic system are to operate under those restrictions. Most categories of disposable consumer goods would not be able to be made. Manufacturers would be required to use recycled materials as default, exceptions requiring special permission. Everyone would be incentivised to skill up and be more efficient to get more value out of a more limited pool of resources.