Products and Services from Both Futures: What We’ll Buy in 2045 ?

In one future, you’ll rent everything and own nothing. In another, you’ll own asteroids and rent experiences. Here’s what’s for sale in both timelines.

The Scarcity Economy Shopping List (2045)

Basic Survival Tier – “Gray Paste Plus”

1. NutriPaste Subscription™

Basic: Gray paste, 2000 calories, complete nutrition
Premium: Flavored paste (chicken, beef, pizza simulations)
Luxury: Occasional real texture chunks
Price: 30% of UBI for basic, 50% for premium
Why It Exists: Real food requires land, water, energy—all rationed

2. LifePod Housing™

Standard: 64 sq ft personal cube
Features: Shared bathroom per floor, VR windows to “anywhere”
Upgrades: Climate control (extra cost), sound dampening
Price: 40% of UBI
Reality: Physical space is luxury; most life happens in VR

3. CleanAir Credits™

Basic: 20 hours/day filtered air
Premium: 24/7 clean air access
Luxury: “Fresh” scent added, allergen-free guarantee
Price: Included in base UBI, upgrades cost extra
Dark Truth: Outside air unsafe in most urban areas

4. Water Ration Plus™

Basic: 10 gallons/day (drinking, hygiene, cooking)
Premium: 15 gallons + one hot shower weekly
Luxury: Unlimited (but tracked and socially judged)
Price: Social credit score dependent
Innovation: Waterless hygiene products mandatory

As explored in The AI Economy: Will We Be Paid in Compute Instead of Cash?, these basic necessities might be allocated through compute credits rather than traditional currency.

Experience Tier – “Managed Joy”

1. Reality Escape Pods™

Service: Full-dive VR for 8-hour sessions
Content: 1,000 pre-approved experiences
Mechanism: Direct neural interface (non-invasive)
Price: Watch ads or pay credits
Catch: Addiction algorithms maximize engagement

2. Human Touch Service™

Basic: 15-minute human conversation weekly
Premium: Physical contact upgrade (handshake, hug)
Verification: Certified “real person” guarantee
Price: Lottery system for basic, credits for premium
Psychology: Combats isolation epidemic

3. Nostalgia Experience™

Offerings: Recreated 2010s shopping mall, “restaurant” meal
Activities: Drive gasoline car simulator, use physical money
Atmosphere: Period-accurate down to smells
Price: Special occasions only
Purpose: Remember when abundance existed

Status Games Tier – “Pretend You Matter”

1. Visibility Tokens™

What: Your post seen by 100 real humans
Guarantee: Verified engagement responses
Duration: Brief dopamine hit included
Price: Earned through compliance scores
Reality: Most interaction is with AI

2. Legacy Career Simulator™

Experience: Pretend to be lawyer/doctor/CEO
Features: AI generates “important” emails, virtual meetings
Includes: Virtual secretary praises your decisions
Price: Therapeutic prescription needed
Target: Former professionals in identity crisis

3. Reproduction License™

Permission: Right to have one child
Requirements: Genetic screening, parenting classes
Criteria: Top 10% social score only
Enforcement: Mandatory contraception otherwise
Justification: “Sustainable population management”

For a glimpse of how this might feel, see Life in 2032: Outside of the Gated Community.

Dark Market Tier – “What You Really Want”

1. Privacy Minutes™

Product: Time without surveillance
Method: Faraday cage rentals, signal jammers
Duration: 15-60 minutes max
Risk: Detection means social score penalty
Price: Black market only

2. Real Food Speakeasy™

Offering: Actual meat, fresh vegetables
Location: Constantly moving, word-of-mouth only
Experience: Tastes you forgot existed
Risk: Raids common, harsh penalties
Clientele: Those who remember better times

3. Unfiltered Information™

Access: News without algorithmic curation
Content: Historical records, uncensored data
Method: Encrypted dead drops, mesh networks
Danger: Possession is thoughtcrime
Users: Researchers, rebels, nostalgics

The Abundance Economy Shopping List (2045)

Basic Abundance Tier – “More Than Kings Had”

1. Matter Compiler Access™

Capability: Design anything, print from asteroid material
Precision: Molecular-level assembly
Materials: Any element combination available
Price: Electricity cost only
Limitation: Creativity, not resources

2. Personal Habitat™

Options: Design your own O’Neill cylinder section
Gravity: Choose from 0g to 2g
Atmosphere: Custom mix for your biology
Size: Minimum 10,000 sq ft
Price: Claim your space plot, build yourself

3. Energy Subscription™

Source: Personal fusion reactor or space solar allocation
Amount: Effectively unlimited for personal use
Backup: Antimatter battery for emergencies
Price: Nearly free
Reality: Energy abundance changes everything

4. Biological Optimization™

Services: Gene therapy on demand
Options: Age reversal, enhanced capabilities
Safety: AI-designed, tested in simulation
Reversibility: Most modifications undoable
Ethics: Self-modification rights recognized

As discussed in How AI Will Transform Capital, ownership of these technologies becomes the new wealth.

Experience Infinity Tier – “Beyond Imagination”

1. Time Dilation Vacation™

Experience: Live 1 year in 1 week real-time
Method: Accelerated consciousness simulation
Memory: Full integration with your timeline
Options: Historical periods, fantasy worlds
Price: Real time opportunity cost

2. Consciousness Bandwidth™

Upgrade: Think 10x-1000x faster
Ability: Parallel processing thoughts
Experience: Hive mind connections available
Duration: Temporary or permanent
Price: Mental preparation required

3. Custom Physics Zones™

Rent: Spaces with modified physical laws
Options: Lower gravity pools, time-slow fields
Possibilities: Experience impossible sensations
Safety: AI-monitored containment
Price: Energy intensive

4. Stellar Engineering Tours™

Witness: Stars being moved for Dyson spheres
Participate: Help design constellation arrangements
Duration: Decades-long projects, time-compressed viewing
Legacy: Name stellar configurations
Price: Travel time investment

Creation Tier – “Become a God”

1. Species Design Kit™

Power: Create new life forms
Tools: Evolution simulators, gene combiners
Testing: Virtual environments first
Release: Earth or custom biospheres
Price: Ethical review required

2. Planet Sculpting™

Canvas: Terraform asteroids or dead worlds
Design: Custom geography, weather patterns
Populate: Design complete ecosystems
Timeline: Centuries, but you can fast-forward
Price: Resource allocation priority

3. Reality Engine Access™

Create: Build virtual universes
Control: Set custom physical laws
Populate: AI beings or consciousness uploads
Purpose: Art, research, or entertainment
Price: Massive compute power

4. Galactic Monuments™

Build: Structures visible from other stars
Options: Dyson spheres, stellar engines
Message: Communicate across light-years
Legacy: Lasts billions of years
Price: Civilizational effort coordination

For visions of this abundance future, see The Accelerating AI Revolution and From the Wheel to AI: How Technology Reshapes Humanity.

Services Comparison: Healthcare 2045

Scarcity Version:

Diagnosis: AI-only, human doctors extinct
Treatment: Rationed by algorithm and social value
End-of-life: Encouraged at 75 for “sustainability”
Mental Health: VR therapy, mood regulation mandatory
Pain Management: Distraction techniques, suffering accepted

Abundance Version:

Diagnosis: AI with optional human oversight
Treatment: Cellular regeneration, custom organ printing
Lifespan: Indefinite with periodic rejuvenation
Mental Enhancement: Cognitive upgrades available
Suffering: Optional, eliminated on request

Services Comparison: Education 2045

Scarcity Version:

Curriculum: Approved skills only (compliance, basic maintenance)
Creativity: Actively discouraged—no economic value
History: Revised for social harmony
Science: Limited to maintaining existing systems
Philosophy: Banned as subversive

Abundance Version:

Learning: Download any knowledge instantly
Experience: Live historical events in simulation
Creation: Design new fields of study
Exploration: Learn from alien AI perspectives
Philosophy: Drives progress and meaning

Services Comparison: Entertainment 2045

Scarcity Version:

Content: 1,000 approved VR experiences
Creation: AI-generated only, human art extinct
Themes: Nostalgia for 2020s, acceptance messaging
Interaction: Algorithms optimize for sedation
Reality: Physical experiences banned (too resource-intensive)

Abundance Version:

Content: Create your own realities
Sharing: Experience others’ memories directly
Scale: Participate in galactic-scale events
Danger: Real risk available for those who want it
Boredom: Extinct concept

What Money Means in Each Future

In Scarcity 2045:

Money = Survival Tokens: Barely enough to exist
Wealth = Better Gray Paste: Slightly improved basics
Rich = 100 sq ft pod: More space, not better life
Status = Real Tomato: Once yearly, photographed extensively
Savings = Discouraged: Hoarding destabilizes system

In Abundance 2045:

Money = Attention/Time: The only true scarcities
Wealth = Created Wonders: What you’ve built for others
Rich = Enhanced Capabilities: Better minds, not just things
Status = Contribution: What you’ve added to civilization
Savings = Invested Growth: Compound returns on creation

The Products That Define Each Path

Scarcity’s Defining Product: The Compliance Collar™

Function: Monitors location, vitals, speech, thoughts
Features: Mood adjustment, behavior rewards
Enforcement: Cannot be removed or disabled
Justification: “For social harmony and safety”
Reality: Digital chains for digital serfs

Abundance’s Defining Product: The Creation Engine™

Function: Turn imagination into reality
Limitation: Only physics and ethics
Collaboration: Work across light-years instantly
Scale: Build from nano to stellar
Meaning: Freedom made tangible

Services Nobody Imagines Yet

In Scarcity:

Forgetting Services: Erase traumatic memories of abundance
Descendant Proxies: AI simulates the children you can’t have
Significance Theater: Pretend your compliance matters
Micro-Rebellions: Safe, sanctioned ways to feel defiant
Death Rehearsal: Practice for your scheduled termination

In Abundance:

Consciousness Forking: Be in multiple places simultaneously
Causality Editing: Modify your past (in personal timeline)
Species Bridging: Experience life as other organisms
Universe Debugging: Find and fix physics glitches
Meaning Synthesis: AI helps discover your purpose

The Shocking Price Differences

Transport:

Scarcity: Walk or wait for rationed pod-share
Abundance: Personal spacecraft, teleportation research

Food:

Scarcity: Paste or pills, real food illegal
Abundance: Any cuisine from any era, perfectly recreated

Housing:

Scarcity: 64 sq ft pod in dying city
Abundance: Personal world with custom physics

Healthcare:

Scarcity: Managed decline, scheduled death
Abundance: Indefinite youth, enhanced capabilities

Purpose:

Scarcity: Compliance and consumption
Abundance: Creation and exploration

The Choice Made Manifest

These products and services aren’t just different—they represent fundamentally different views of human potential.

In the scarcity future, every product is about managing less, controlling behavior, and maintaining order as humanity slowly fades.

In the abundance future, every product is about enabling more, expanding possibility, and exploring what it means to transcend current limitations.

The products we build reflect the future we choose. The services we offer reveal what we believe humans are for.

One path sees humans as problems to be managed. The other sees humans as potential to be unleashed.

For deeper exploration of wealth in these futures, see AI and Wealth Inequality: How Technology Is Widening the Gap, The New Gilded Age: How AI Will Concentrate Fortunes Faster Than Ever, and The End of Human Wealth: How AI May Render Traditional Capital Meaningless.

What do you want to buy in 2045?

More importantly: What do you want to be possible to buy?

The choice is being made now, in 2025. By 2045, we’ll simply be shopping for the consequences.

Next: “Making the Choice: The Manifesto for Abundance”

Disclaimer: This article presents speculative scenarios based on current technological and economic trends. It is intended for thought-provoking analysis and educational purposes only. The products, services, and futures described are fictional projections, not predictions or endorsements. This content should not be construed as financial, investment, legal, or professional advice. Readers should not make personal, financial, or career decisions based solely on these speculative scenarios. The author and publisher disclaim any liability for decisions made based on the information provided. Always consult qualified professionals for advice specific to your circumstances.