The Star Trek Solution

We can all remember the scenes from the old Star Trek series: Kirk gets hungry  - Kirk wanders over to a square looking oven like device embedded in the wall - Kirk pushes a button - there is a hum, and a complete meal magically pops out of the wall. What is relevant is that there is no economic transaction taking place; there is no card inserted for payment - no means to identify who has purchased the meal. Back on mother Earth the cities are pristine and funcional. Everyone seems housed and seems to own some means of transportation. Poverty and desperation seem to be missing.
Is all this just a utopian vision from a comic reading science fiction addicted geek? Or is this vision of the future a natural transition from a capitalist based economy to a more egalitarian society? The problem with this vision is that if we all the people walking around and pushing buttons as if they are actually doing something. The reality of technological advancement is that those people will not be needed to push those buttons. The main purpose of technology - it's raison d'etre is eliminate the need for the humans in the first place. Instead of having 10 people on the bridge of the Enterprise only 3 would be needed. What do you do with the extra 7 people? That is the most important question that is confronting capitalism and the advancement of technology:
What do you do with the extra people?
The problem of the current global economic meltdown lies not at the feet of the elites, but the natural finish to the evolution of capitalism. Capitalism is not about creating jobs; its sole purpose is the creation of wealth. Capitalism has reached its epoch - it is nearing perfection: enormous wealth is being created without the need for human labour, and that wealth is being channelled into the hands of fewer and fewer elites. The elites are not being malicious, they are merely celebrating the perfection of capitalism.
This makes capitalism a concept that is no longer viable in a technologically advanced society. Money itself has to be re-invented as a concept. We can no longer accept the notion of labour for money and labour for profit. Some other rewards must be devised for those who are most useful to society, and a new sense of community must be devised for a smaller and more connected world.
I welcome your comments.