Thanks! Yeah, I totally agree that nanobot swarms etc. might not involve monetary transfers and thus might not show up in GDP metrics. In fact, now that you mention it, there’s a whole category of arguments like this that I could have made but didn’t: How GDP as a metric is not a perfect proxy for economic vitality, how economic vitality of a nation is not a perfect proxy for economic vitality of an industry, etc.
Thanks! Yeah, I totally agree that nanobot swarms etc. might not involve monetary transfers and thus might not show up in GDP metrics. In fact, now that you mention it, there’s a whole category of arguments like this that I could have made but didn’t: How GDP as a metric is not a perfect proxy for economic vitality, how economic vitality of a nation is not a perfect proxy for economic vitality of an industry, etc.