For most of human history, the main things that were scarce were:

  • Food
  • Shelter
  • Healthcare
  • Information

In 2024 in the developed world, we have lots of money, so things that can be exchanged for money are no longer scarce. As such, the things that are scarce are:

  • Attention/focus
  • High-quality information
  • Wisdom
  • Time
  • Historical artifacts (e.g. manuscripts, ancient human tools, fossils) and certain types of information (e.g. astronomical data)