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I was the one who wrote that question to Stephen Hawking. Now that it's been brought up here, perhaps it would be nice to ask the question here. How does HN fe

• calibraxis 11y ago
  The fact that people fear technological unemployment — freedom — is a sign we live under an idiotic system.
  • rskar 11y ago
    Freedom, as in freedom from work? The supposed upside of that freedom is based on the assumption that one is still somehow entitled to some of that good stuff that AI/robots may bring. But that's exactly the issue. Right now we understand "capitalism" (stakeholders entitled to dividends) and "barter" (parties entitled to swap) as the sort of entitlements that underpin all others, and both of these leverage property rights. A sovereignty/government would then tap into these plus holdings of property itself by levying tributes/taxes, from which it may then redistribute portions as some other forms of entitlement. Or not; it's still an open debate on whether and how sovereignty/government might counterbalance via entitlements (such as basic income schemes, etc.) the social changes that technological unemployment could bring. In the meantime, the facts are that most people must strike bargains in order to obtain most (or possibly all) of the material needs of their lifestyles (and possibly also provide for dependents), and that the most usual bargaining to be struck involves their offer of labor; hence their reasons for all the dreading about technological unemployment. If most could clearly find their way to situations where employment wasn't a requirement towards getting their material needs met, then such fears would abate.