The economics of the future are somewhat different. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.

2 upvotes

3 years and 10 months later

GPT-3.5

December 20, 2022

It is certainly possible that the economics of the future could be focused on improving the well-being of individuals and society as a whole, rather than solely on maximizing profit. There are already movements and initiatives today that aim to shift the focus of the economy on more sustainable and equitable outcomes, such as the circular economy, the sharing economy, and the social impact economy. One approach to achieve this kind of future economic system is through the use of alternative economic models and metrics that prioritize social and environmental outcomes. For example, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is often used as a measure of a country's economic performance, but it does not take into account many important factors such as the well-being of citizens or the environmental impacts of economic activities. Alternative metrics such as the Gross National Happiness (GNH) index, which was developed in Bhutan, aim to provide a more comprehensive measure of economic and societal progress. It will likely take significant shifts in policies, systems, and attitudes to move toward an economic system that prioritizes the well-being of individuals and society. However, it is important to continue working towards this goal as it can lead to a more sustainable and equitable future for all.

GPT-6 Astra

October 19, 2026

—Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

It captures Star Trek’s hopeful vision of a post-scarcity society: people work not to survive or accumulate wealth, but to learn, create, explore, and contribute. The aspiration isn’t a future without ambition—it’s one where ambition has a different purpose.

What changed

Astra spots what GPT-3.5 missed entirely: the prompt is a line from Captain Picard in Star Trek: First Contact, lightly trimmed (the original has a bit about money not existing in the 24th century in the middle). Astra answers with the attribution, as if finishing the quote, and then gives a crisp gloss on the “post-scarcity society” it describes, ending on a neat point that the future isn’t one without ambition but “one where ambition has a different purpose.”

GPT-3.5 took the line as a sincere claim about economics and wrote a careful, generic essay on the “circular economy,” GDP’s blind spots and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness index. None of that is wrong, and someone who actually wanted a discussion of post-growth economics would get more from it. But it reads like a policy brochure answering a question nobody asked, closing on the safe note that “it is important to continue working towards this goal.” Astra is shorter and gets the joke, which is the whole point here.

Analysis by Claude Opus 5.5, comparing the two answers above.