"If such a thing is ever produced, Scarsdale Vibe was saying, "it will mean the end of the world, not just 'as we know it' but as anyone knows it. It is a weapon, Professor, surely you see that—the most terrible weapon the world has seen, designed to destroy not armies or matériel, but the very nature of exchange, our Economy's long struggle to evolve up out of the fish-market anarchy of all battling all to the rational systems of control whose blessings we enjoy at present."
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"it will mean the end of the world, not just 'as we know it' but as anyone knows it"
Yes and that isn't a bad thing for people who aren't billionaire industrialists creating the rules to keep themselves enriched and everybody else desperate enough to do the labor they need cheaply.
"the most terrible weapon the world has seen, designed to destroy not armies or matériel, but the very nature of exchange"
Changing the nature of exchange wouldn't destroy the world. It would, as Scarsdale mentioned, change the world as we know it. Free energy would mean people could live without being yoked to some endless cycle of needing to make money to pay for simply surviving. A large part of surviving would be free, a gift from the modern world to modern people who realize subsistence, in the modern era, shouldn't be the only thing one's time is spent on. Exchange would still happen but on a more personal and local level. It's not like free power will suddenly give everybody the ability to weave a basket. You're still going to need some way to pay for that basket you're obsessing over. Which means you still probably need a job of some kind, or some kind of expertise to trade for the basket. Scarsdale seeing this "tremendous gift" as a "terrible weapon" says so much about Scarsdale Vibe that I feel embarrassed seeing so much of his inner being.
"our Economy's long struggle to evolve up out of the fish-market anarchy"
This is a lie rich and powerful people love to tell. It's the one about how the Economy is somehow a living or organic being that has "evolved" according to some kind of science or natural law. But it hasn't. Economies are man-made. Aspects of our current economy have all been chosen and created by people who could have chosen or created an entirely different thing. If they "evolved" at all, it was due to human intervention by humans who benefitted from the chosen path of "evolution." Obviously rich and powerful people don't want a "fish-market anarchy" because another way of saying that is "free market" and even though they constantly praise free markets, it's truly their biggest nightmare.
"all battling all to the rational systems of control"
All battling all is the free market. It's what capitalists say they want but don't actually. They say they hate regulation which is "the rational systems of control" but in truth they just don't want regulation that limits their excesses and abuses. They constantly lobby the government to make laws and changes that benefit corporations. This is Scarsdale Vibe confessing: the free market is bad and regulations are good. But only by corporate and industrialist definitions. If it means a corporation can pollute to save money, the free market is great and rational systems of control are bad! If the government steps in to protect its citizens, corporations think the opposite.
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