Sci-Fi Writing Prompts: Economy Edition

Design an economy where the primary currency is literal time—hours, days, or years of lifespan that can be transferred between individuals through biotechnology.

Consider how this affects social stratification, labor relations, and criminal justice. What happens to traditional concepts of inheritance, retirement, or life insurance? How do governments tax time, and what constitutes counterfeiting?

Create a post-scarcity society where energy is infinite but attention/focus is the scarce resource that drives all economic activity.

In a world where matter compilers can create anything, human consciousness becomes the bottleneck. How do you monetize creativity, decision-making, or sensory experience? What new forms of labor emerge when physical work is obsolete?

Build an interstellar economy where faster-than-light communication exists but FTL travel doesn't, creating a galaxy-wide information economy with physical goods remaining local.

Information, designs, entertainment, and knowledge can be transmitted instantly across light-years, but physical objects must travel at sublight speeds. How does this affect trade relationships, intellectual property, and economic sovereignty?

Design an economy based on genetic diversity and biological compatibility, where your genetic uniqueness and reproductive potential determine your economic worth.

In a world facing genetic bottlenecks or requiring specific gene combinations for survival, DNA becomes commodity. How are genetic rights traded? What happens to concepts of personal autonomy and bodily sovereignty?

Create a reality-manipulation economy where the ability to alter physics or probability is treated as a measurable economic force with exchange rates and market fluctuations.

Some individuals can bend reality, but this power is finite and quantifiable. How do you regulate reality manipulation? What constitutes fraud when the laws of physics are malleable? How do insurance companies operate?