They tap “buy.” Not long after, an autonomous robot shows up at their door holding a cup of coffee. No delivery fee, no tax, no human workers involved anywhere in the production process.

This is what I imagine if technology got pushed to the absolute limit. A crazy dream? Maybe. But in theory, it could happen if AI and robotics reach maximum efficiency in the production chain.

In economics, there are two important terms: economies of scale and diseconomies of scale.

• Economies of scale: the bigger the scale of production, the lower the cost per unit.

• Diseconomies of scale: the point where increasing production actually makes costs go up, usually due to organizational complexity, inefficient coordination, or management overload.

In the real world, every company has its limit, the point where production can’t grow without costs spiking.

But what if AI and robots could erase this limit? What if diseconomies of scale could be completely obliterated by technology?

This is the question that popped into my head one morning in class:

"Would diseconomies of scale even be relevant if AI and robots took over all human roles in the workforce?"

Picture this:

• Human labor is almost completely unnecessary in factories.

• The global supply chain is run entirely by algorithms.

• Robots work tirelessly, never strike, never ask for a paycheck.

• Production errors are nearly zero because everything is optimized in real time.

The result? Prices for goods drop to almost nothing, but companies can still keep massive profit margins.

That means we could end up in an extreme scenario, where all physical goods are free.

If everything is free, then money starts losing its relevance. You don’t need to “work” in the old sense to get food, clothes, or a place to live. Robots and AI serve humans, not the other way around.

The question is: if all basic needs are free, what can humans still sell?

Maybe the things that still have value are attention and narrative:

• Attention becomes the new currency. Platforms, media, and entertainment ecosystems will fight to capture it.

• Narrative becomes a strategic commodity. Ideas, stories, and how events are framed will decide what society sees as important, cool, and worth fighting for.

In a free world, humans won’t pay for things, they’ll pay for experiences, stories, and identity. And narrative might just be the most expensive weapon of all, able to move crowds, influence politics, and create entirely new “needs” that aren’t free.

This creates a world where whoever controls massive attention gets to control the narrative. Of course, controlling a narrative isn’t always bad, but it’s definitely not always good either.

“Hey! You forgot about energy! Who’s going to provide all that power?”

A valid question, and worth considering. But doesn’t that also limit the adoption of AI and robots in the energy sector?

What if AI and robots figure out ways to extract energy with insanely high efficiency — maybe optimized nuclear power, next-gen renewable energy, or even space exploration to harvest solar energy like in a Type 2 Kardashev Scale civilization?

Maybe it’s possible, maybe it’s not, but one thing’s for sure… technology moves exponentially, doesn’t it?

Maybe one day, everything really will be free and robots will serve humans without conditions. But on that day, one question will still remain:

“Whose story are you believing… and how much is it worth?”

So if all goods are free and only narrative has a price… well, get ready.

Tomorrow you might not buy a new pair of shoes, but you’ll buy the “story” of why your shoes look cool even though they’re just the default factory model.

And the funniest part? That story might also be written by AI… for free.

This is just a random thought I had while taking a dump.

No need to overthink it, work deadlines are already stressful enough. Just treat this as entertainment, or yeah… a free narrative that, thankfully, no one’s selling yet.

Support dialog