History Main / NoPaperFuture

* Many jobs that historically involved extensive writing and use of paper have now gone totally digital—writing as a job, for example; many authors today write drafts almost completely on computers, and the only time significant paper is used is during publication.

The future is full of data drives, backups, often made of OrganicTechnology or [[DataCrystal crystal]], and {{holographic terminal}}s. No paper though, even if we still have trees around. The danger of having [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup no hard copies]] of information seems lost on folks. This vision of an entirely digital future hearkens back to the 70s and 80s, when the increasing popularity of the home computer and email led many to believe that soon paper would be made obsolete by the ability to transfer and access hundred-page documents instantly on portable computing devices. Ironically, as the years went on the growing use of fax machines and printers meant paper was in higher demand than ever before. However by the 2000s the growing trend was towards everything being digital, and the rise of e-books threatens to make a No Paper Future a reality (despite the [[NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup no hard copies]] risks).

Another way to tell it's the future is to make money 'weird', if not get rid of it. This is a JustifiedTrope in the United States and a few other First World countries, since now many of us really ''do'' pay with cards any sizable amount of money when possible ([[CreditCardPlot and preferable]]). For now it's still more practical to bring money for smaller transactions, to save the 20 or 30 seconds to sign a receipt or key PIN; yet even now, swipe-and-go smart cards that can be much ''faster'' than handling messy physical change are spreading.

* Totally inverted in ''Film/{{Brazil}}'', in which the semi-futuristic dystopian society uses nothing ''but'' paper. The world is full of giant printing presses and those pneumatic tubes that are in drive-thru banks ([[spoiler:That's not what "information retrieval" means, though; it's a [[UnusualEuphemism euphemism for torture]]]]). Most of the plot is brought about by a fly flying into an ''automatic typewriter'', causing it to type one letter wrong and [[spoiler:therefore sentence the wrong man to death]].

* Creator/TerryBrooks notes how bad this can be in Literature/TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara trilogy. [[spoiler:The library they're looking for is entirely paperless, and thus they have no way to remove the information.]]

* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', being a ''Franchise/StarWars'' parody, has this. [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1763.html Apparently]], this is because paper in the ''Star Wars'' universe is ''evil''.

* In the 1950s short story "Business as Usual in Times of Transition" a department store trying to adapt to the sudden introduction of {{Matter Replicator}}s stops accepting cash after a customer duplicates a large pile of bills and uses them as cigar lighters. Instead they hand out credit cards (at the time of writing issued by and only usable with specific retailers) to everyone.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E7Kerblam "Kerblam!"]]: Yaz and Ryan find it odd that, in a corporation where everything is stored electronically, executive Slade needs a clipboard and filing cabinet. [[spoiler:When asked, Slade justifies it by explaining he thought the system was responsible for all the employee disappearances, so he was keeping a log somewhere no one else could access.]]

-->"Print is dead."
-->"Sure it is. They've been saying that for more than two centuries. Yet here it is in my hand, defying all predictions of its demise".

* A tragic example, but in countries with a severe crisis in resources, paper money is hard to find. By 2018, the paper crisis was so severe in UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} that the government was looking for a cryptocurrency called Petro to work for the country. While paper-cash is around, is so hard to find that most of the population pay through electronic services. In fact, if you have paper-cash (or dollars), you can find resources cheaper than with electronic payment in the market.

*** Curiously, however, they don't appear to have mastered the idea of having more than a single document per device. Frequently, when a person is investigating a topic, it has at least half a dozen of PADDs instead of using a single device to receive or compose all the files.

* Videogame/Wasteland2 completely inverts this trope. People don't use paper money, they use Scrap. In fact, the picture for scrap is... a pile of scrap. You get it off all human enemies. It's a CrapsackWorld so bad that people are flat-out trading with raw materials, even though it's treated exactly like currency.

* ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'' goes into TechnologyPorn detail describing the ZeeRust 'work console' of a CEO, concluding with "There were no pens, notepads, or sticky yellow reminder notes — such things had become obsolete in the modern paperless office."

* A tragic example, but in countries with a severe crisis in resources, paper money is hard to find. By 2018, the paper crisis was so severe in UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} that the government was looking for a cryptocurrency called Petro to work for the country. While paper-cash is around, is so hard to find that most of the population pay through electronic services.

** ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'' follows the same route, to the point where modern duel disks look like smart phones strapped to your arm in the real world, and as little more than watches in Link Vrains. Yusaku is one of the few people who still uses physical cards.

* During the 2008 housing recession, many news papers went out of business, with most cities only having one or two active newspapers lines, and many paper companies still have trouble as many people didn't resubscribe when the economy improved. The ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' example above may prove to be correct.
* In the late 1980's and early 90's there was a humorous poster in many offices. It showed a man in his office with computers and the caption was "The future will never be entirely paperless." If you look past the man you can see the bathroom with the toilet paper clearly visible.

* Creator/TerryBrooks notes how bad this can be in Literature\TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara trilogy. [[spoiler:The library they're looking for is entirely paperless, and thus they have no way to remove the information.]]

* Terry Brooks notes how bad this can be in the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy. [[spoiler:The library they're looking for is entirely paperless, and thus they have no way to remove the information.]]

** On ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' Tilly is amazed that Burnham owns an actual physical book.

* The AlternateUniverse in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' is this way to the point that a ballpoint pen becomes the most exotic thing about a crime scene. It eventually leads the Fringe Division to a hospital where patients can't reliably use computers and therefore given pens and paper.

* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'', being a ''Film/StarWars'' parody, has this. [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1763.html Apparently]], this is because paper in the ''Star Wars'' universe is ''evil''.

* A tragic example, but in countries with a severe crisis in resources, paper money is hard to find. By 2018, the paper crisis was so severe in UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}} that the government was looking for a cryptocurrency called Petro to work for the country. However, the Petro was criticized by other nations as a mean of corruption due to how badly the same government had handled the country resources, and not as a solution. While paper-cash is around, is so hard to find that most of the population pay through electronic services.

* ''Webcomics/DarthsAndDroids'', being a ''Webcomic/StarWars'' parody, has this. [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1763.html Apparently]], this is because paper in the ''Star Wars'' universe is ''evil''.

* ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'' goes into TechnologyPorn detail describing the ZeeRust 'work console' a CEO, concluding with "There were no pens, notepads, or sticky yellow reminder notes — such things had become obsolete in the modern paperless office."

* UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} [[http://numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=13953 actually considers the bold move of ditching paper money.]]

** ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'' follows the same route, to the point where modern duel disks look like smart phones strapped to your arm in the real world, and as little more than watches in Link Vrains.