People in the future don’t have clutter. That’s one of many important lessons I learned from Star Trek, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this month. On Star Trek: The Next Generation (my favorite), crew members had a handful of decorative items in their quarters, but the look was 
streamlined and spare. Whatever you wanted; a clean uniform, a hot fudge sundae, a gadget to repair the warp drive; could be replicated instantly.
streamlined and spare. Whatever you wanted; a clean uniform, a hot fudge sundae, a gadget to repair the warp drive; could be replicated instantly.Perhaps because of the ease of procurement, people didn’t seem very interested in stuff. How would you feel about your possessions if you hadn’t spent money on them and didn’t have to store them or remember where they were? The replicator is the ultimate storage solution: infinite space, and no need to remember where you put something!
Without so much stuff and the time needed to decide on, get and maintain stuff (including food), you’d probably have lots more time to do something meaningful, like discover new life forms. With that in mind, what could you do now, in the 21st century, to spend less time and energy on physical objects?
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