Helpful Score: 1
Take an Earth where there is no scarcity, and where death has essentially been eliminated. An economy based on the buying and selling of 'goods' doesn't work in that world.
Instead, according to Doctorow, we get a reputation-based economy, where what others think of you is more important than just about anything else, and competition is based on who does the most good or creates the most interesting things.
This story is set in that world, with a group of people who continue to run the Disney World theme park. Ultimately, the plot revolves around those people, and the motivations that they have for doing what they do. And the conclusion, to me, seems to really be that people are still people and can still experience all the highs and lows of a typical human experience.
So there were two tightly coupled trains of thought through this book. The first was how fascinating the whole reputation-based economy works in a post-scarcity world, and the second was the interpersonal relationships between the main character and his close friends.
The book worked, and did a fine job keeping my interest. There wasn't much new in the interpersonal relationship storyline, but the post-scarcity world itself was fascinating. Unlike other authors (Stross, in particular), the placement of this society in a very familiar and comfortable setting (Disney World!) makes it quite approachable and understandable, rather than bizarre and strange. And that made this new economic concept truly worth my mental effort.
4 of 5 stars.
Instead, according to Doctorow, we get a reputation-based economy, where what others think of you is more important than just about anything else, and competition is based on who does the most good or creates the most interesting things.
This story is set in that world, with a group of people who continue to run the Disney World theme park. Ultimately, the plot revolves around those people, and the motivations that they have for doing what they do. And the conclusion, to me, seems to really be that people are still people and can still experience all the highs and lows of a typical human experience.
So there were two tightly coupled trains of thought through this book. The first was how fascinating the whole reputation-based economy works in a post-scarcity world, and the second was the interpersonal relationships between the main character and his close friends.
The book worked, and did a fine job keeping my interest. There wasn't much new in the interpersonal relationship storyline, but the post-scarcity world itself was fascinating. Unlike other authors (Stross, in particular), the placement of this society in a very familiar and comfortable setting (Disney World!) makes it quite approachable and understandable, rather than bizarre and strange. And that made this new economic concept truly worth my mental effort.
4 of 5 stars.
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