Well, as we science fiction writers like to say, we're about to transition from the economy of scarcity to the economy of abundance. The more we move toward things that are infinitely (and freely) replicable as metrics of success and happiness the world will be a better place. (I deal with some of this in my WWW trilogy about the future of the web.) We've got a real opportunity to make the world be about IDEAS and CONNECTIONS, not material possessions, and that's all to the good.