Too Much Sci-Fi

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I just read a headline about a woman physically attacking her husband for giving her the wrong flowers and candy for Mother's Day. I wonder what she would have done if he hadn't given her any at all? But, it brought to mind some thoughts I had while watching an episode of one of the many Star Trek TV series. One of the crew was preparing for a date with his sweetheart, and so he asked the replicator for a rose and a bottle of wine. Did you ever wonder what the replicator makes food out of? Sometimes it is explained as a recycling unit, using already existing matter, but other times it is simply referred to as using energy to produce and arrange molecules in a manner that will produce the requested item. But that's not what bothered me. It's the replicated gifts. What meaning or significance do gifts have when you can simply tell the machine in the wall to make them? Anytime you want anything, the computer gives it to you. And, not just you. Anyone can talk to the wall and get whatever they desire - as long as the replicator has the proper molecular structure of the item in its data banks. Gifts have meaning because someone put thought into them. The effort to procure them plays a part in their value, too. It's not that I want someone to have to work ten years hard labor to buy me something expensive. But I am not sure I would value a gift that I could get myself anytime I wanted it. Probably none of this matters and it's just that too much sci-fi fries your brain cells. But with companies working on producing real replicators, it's something to think about. Would you value a replicated gift? http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/23/5835326/nestle-wants-to-make-a-real-star-trek-food-replicator