The Wealth of Time: How Humanity Trades for Tomorrow Chapter 1. Primitive Economies (Hunter-Gatherer Stage) • Start: ~200,000 BCE (emergence of Homo sapiens) • End/Transition: ~10,000 BCE (advent of agriculture and domestication of animals) Chapter 2. Agrarian Economies • Start: ~10,000 BCE (Neolithic Revolution) • End/Transition: ~1,500 CE (Renaissance, early global trade, beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in some regions) Chapter 3. Feudal Economies • Start: ~500 CE (fall of the Western Roman Empire and rise of feudal systems in Europe, similar systems elsewhere) • End/Transition: ~1,700 CE (Age of Enlightenment, early Industrial Revolution, decline of feudalism) Chapter 4. Mercantilist Economies • Start: ~1,500 CE (Age of Exploration and colonization) • End/Transition: ~1,800 CE (Industrial Revolution fully underway, global trade expands, national wealth shifts to production-focused economies) Chapter 5. Industrial Economies • Start: ~1,750 CE (Industrial Revolution begins in Britain, spreading globally) • End/Transition: ~1970 CE (Post-Industrial economies emerge with the rise of services, computing, and globalization) Chapter 6. Post-Industrial (Service-Based) Economies • Start: ~1970 CE (rise of service sectors, finance, and the Information Age) • End/Transition: ~2020–2030 CE (increasing automation and AI begin to dominate production and services) Chapter 7. Automation-Driven Economies • Start: ~2020–2030 CE (current stage, marked by rapid adoption of AI, robotics, and automation) • End/Transition: ~2050–2070 CE (shift toward decentralized economies as blockchain and advanced renewable energy proliferate) Chapter 8. Decentralized Economies • Start: ~2050–2070 CE (widespread adoption of decentralized systems for finance, governance, and production) • End/Transition: ~2100–2200 CE (transition toward post-scarcity as advanced automation eliminates resource scarcity) Chapter 9. Post-Scarcity Economies (Speculative) • Start: ~2100–2200 CE (hypothetical transition marked by abundant energy, advanced material science, and AI-driven resource management) • End: Indeterminate (may represent a stable, long-term phase rather than a transient stage