A post-scarcity civilization would replace money with a system based on usable energy and codified knowledge.
April 26, 2026
Original Paper
Thermo-Informational Accounting (TIA): A Dual-Component Value Framework for Post-Scarcity Economies
SSRN · 6600578
The Takeaway
Thermo-Informational Accounting tracks wealth using the physical principles of Exergy and Functional Information. This framework moves beyond social constructs like gold or paper currency to measure the actual capacity of a society to do work. We assume that some form of money will always be necessary to organize human activity. This model proposes that a Type-I civilization would instead manage its resources based on the laws of physics. It provides a blueprint for an economy that values survival and complexity over simple accumulation.
From the abstract
Modern economic systems measure value through socially constructed monetary instruments that emerged under conditions of material scarcity. As technological civilization advances toward energy abundance and knowledge-intensive production, these instruments become progressively misaligned with the physical basis of economic activity. This paper proposes Thermo-Informational Accounting (TIA)-a conceptual accounting framework grounding economic value in two physically meaningful components: Exergy