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Okay, the obvious answer is "the robots were programmed to keep the people alive" but hear me out here.

Buy N Large is a profit-making company. One of the central themes of the film is wasteful consumerism. The idea is that Buy N Large was so very driven by profit that they ignored the wider consequences of their actions. Yet the business is so successful that they are never held accountable for these consequences, and they eventually abandon the earth. Their customers are launched on-board huge space ships where robots take care of all of their needs, constantly feeding them entertainment.

It's also declared that the ship was only supposed to be gone for 6 years, but had just entered it's 700th anniversary.

Enough with the exposition, let's get down to economy. Buy N Large exists to make money, but there's no money being exchanged on the Axiom. Yes, I know that an answer to this question suggests there's a "pay later" option but that makes no sense.

People are born and die aboard the Axiom and never work. They have no way to contribute to the economy. They have an ever-increasing debt which they have no way to pay back, just an ever-increasing debt.

Buy N Large is a profit-making organisation, it's not in their interest to give every human being unlimited credit, and they clearly don't need any contribution from the human beings.

Just like if I walk into my local supermarket with no means to pay, they've got no reason to let me walk away with the goods. Wouldn't the Axiom robots stop serving the humans? Because they're robots, wouldn't they just wait, maintaining themselves, until some humans with currency arrive and need their services again?

Side note: The ship has abandoned it's mission to return the humans to earth, the Auto-pilot actively prevents this. So they've no reason to think that humans will ever contribute to their society again.

AJFaraday
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    This seems very opinion-based. You ask us to disregard the obvious and likely reason (that it's because their directives tell them to do so) in order to take a flight of fancy with you down fanfic lane. – Valorum Jul 27 '18 at 14:10
  • @Valorum I'm not sure that's a fair assessment. The question ignores money and in a film about consumerism, that's a bit plot hole, unless there's a different reason. Why would a profit-making company make this happen? – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:12
  • Is there any good indication to show that Operation Recolonize was intended to be a profit-making venture? At that point, the aim seems to be the survival of the species. – Valorum Jul 27 '18 at 14:13
  • @Valorum Then why the "pay later" option? Profit is Buy N Large's "raison d'etre", and it appears they've ignored warnings about the survival of the planet long enough to literally end life on Earth (in a warning to us all). – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:15
  • @Valorum Also, I'm not trying to produce material here, I'm looking for reasoning in the material which is already there. – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:16
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    Like I said, you start by asking us to discount the single most important factor, that these are robots following directives. Presumably Directive #1 is "Don't mass-murder those you're caring for" – Valorum Jul 27 '18 at 14:20
  • @Valorum I've explained why that doesn't add up. – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:21
  • In your opinion, hence my close-vote. – Valorum Jul 27 '18 at 14:21
  • I also veered toward voting to close as a dupe of this since I don't think you've adequately explained why you don't think the answer there doesn't answer this. – Valorum Jul 27 '18 at 14:23
  • Perhaps the question could be rephrased into something like "why would BNL ensure that the robots would take care of the humans forever when they blatantly knew the Earth would not be an option again?" From which VBartillucci's answer could still fit, no? – Jenayah Jul 27 '18 at 14:24
  • @Valorum There's a gap between 'what kind of economy do they use?' and 'why do they do anything without money?', but it's clear you feel this question is redundant. – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:28
  • @AJFaraday - I'm not a fan of questions that start by discounting the single most likely reason. – Valorum Jul 27 '18 at 14:30
  • @Valorum would it help if I started with a causal statement. “Why would they be programmed to provide service without payment?” – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:35
  • @AJFaraday - The answer to that is "Because of Operation Recolonize". It's answerable, but trivially simple. – Valorum Jul 27 '18 at 14:38
  • Seems straightforward enough: Buy'N'Large had a contract and the robots, as their representatives, are programmed to follow it. It may have turned out to be unprofitable, but them's the breaks. – Harry Johnston Jul 27 '18 at 22:56
  • @HarryJohnston answering in comments is discouraged. You could write an answer, tho... (if that’s allowed when it’s on hold. I’m not quite sure? – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 23:44
  • @AJFaraday, I would have, but you can't post an answer to a question that is on hold. – Harry Johnston Jul 28 '18 at 00:24

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The company pretty much knows not only that (they believe) the earth cannot be fixed, but that they're responsible.

The ship is essentially a settlement for what they fear would be the biggest class action suit in the history of history itself. By getting ahead of it, they make themselves look like saviors, and not that they're trying to make up for their mistake.

Also, if the Earth population dies, there will be no opportunity for profit later. The last order given was keep the Earthlings out there, and keep them safe. So they're following that last directive (Order A-113, IIRC?)

Now, the fact that there's no way they could have brought 700 years of supplies suggests that the ship is an even more amazing marvel of engineering that it seems. It must be finding raw materials in space and using them to make more soda cups and stuff. Impressive.

VBartilucci
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  • The raw materials thing is an interesting question, too. They do seem to throw their waste out in to space. – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:17
  • See this wonderful yet gruesome answer on where some of said raw materials come from, and enjoy your lunch! – Jenayah Jul 27 '18 at 14:18
  • Oh, there pretty much had to be SOME level of...recycling, but since they were clearly still dumping garbage (a subtle clue that they'd not yet learned their lesson) I figure they had to be pulling some raw materials in, more than simply collecting hydrogen for fuel. – VBartilucci Jul 27 '18 at 14:22
  • @Jenayah That makes the waste thing even more non-sensical. Why get rid of something that's made of the stuff you're making things out of? Oh well, I won't get into this here as the question's already about to be closed as 'off-topic'. – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:23
  • I think there likely reaches a point, unless you're doing full molecular breakdown and replication, that materials become too corrupt to recycle. You can filter water from various source as much as you like, but there's going to be a buildup of stuff that makes that filtration less and less efficient. You're going to want to bring on fresh water at some point. – VBartilucci Jul 27 '18 at 14:26
  • @VBartilucci I'd argue that all the water we ever drink is recycled. We don't /now/ have the technology to do that completely efficiently, but it is set in the future. – AJFaraday Jul 27 '18 at 14:27
  • You're not wrong, but the water cycle is so nearly perfect a recycling system that we'll likely never approach it. – VBartilucci Jul 27 '18 at 17:35