Quote from: julz on December 12, 2011, 03:06:27 PM

Quote from: westkybitcoins on December 12, 2011, 01:26:19 PM

At the risk of this heading down a path that was NOT intended... some people just want the human contact. Whether they know it or not, this is one of the main reasons people visit masseuses today.

And that being the case... it seems clear to me that demand for this will always exceed the supply of people willing to just massage everyone for free out of charity. But that won't make the demand go away, despite the (monstrous, totalitarian) re-education that would be so desperately focused on to try to change human nature.

So, again, for someone seeking this service today, they just visit a spa, ask for the service, and pay some form of money for it.

How would one acquire a massage in a RBE?

You'd cultivate a relationship with someone. The answer is most probably that one wouldn't 'acquire' one from strangers.
Is that a black mark against RBE?

I think it would be, if it were true that strangers wouldn't perform the service. But I really don't see that being the only way to acquire one in a RBE. Why would it be? Plenty of people would just want a massage, minus the time and effort required to get into a relationship. People already pay for sex with strangers today, despite the social discouragement. I don't see why such things would stop happening just because physical goods were abundant.

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"Respect from one's peers" will always be 'in demand' too... but (in most circles) you can't buy it. Same with genuine love. The demand outstrips the supply and money hasn't solved it.
Is that a black mark against capitalism?

True respect and love can't be a service. It's simply not something you can buy.

Massages, storytelling, a juggling performance, etc. All those can be bought, and such things are already being bought today. People naturally swap services, it's a very primal behavior. The only way I can see it not happening at some point in the future would be through force or through totalitarian levels of thought control.

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Quote from: westkybitcoins

despite the (monstrous, totalitarian) re-education that would be so desperately focused on to try to change human nature.

Where on earth does that notion come from?

From the idea that somehow people won't be wanting to swap services. As I said above, it's a primal instinct; the only way to consistently prevent it is through force or totalitarian levels of thought control.

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I rather think the RBE will fail if one of it's main goals is to eliminate 'poverty' because the natural currency that would arise, without people even realizing it at first, would be 'reputation' & 'popularity'.
People would be sucking up to each other left right and center to 'put a good word in for me' with someone else.. to be part of the 'in' group etc.
That's how you'd get your massage. "hey.. get me invited to that party all the cool folk are going to.... I'll give you a nice back rub!"
There would still be social lepers - and they would be the new poor, but this time there isn't some other currency they can use to alleviate the suffering their social ineptitude might cause them.

Well, I agree with all that. There will always be disparities of outcome, and those at the bottom will always be our baseline for "poor." Eliminating the idea of people not having access to their basic needs is a fair enough goal, although I'm of the belief most people who focus on that have no idea how to actually achieve it. But eliminating the concept of "poverty" is a waste of time because it's a totally subjective measurment.