4 ms·

Downside to whom?

• jerf 11y ago
  A "job" is when a human being is required to insert their valuable resources of time and talent to produce further valuable resources, some of which go to the human being (lest they starve), some of which go to a capital owner, and some of which go to society at large. Broadly speaking, when you get the same benefits but are not draining a human being's time and talent in the process, society wins. The question of how to distribute those wins may be tricky, but it's the type of problem that, broadly speaking, is good to have. Like when you unexpectedly receive a cash bonus, and now you have the probem of paying taxes on it... yes, it's a problem, but it's a good problem to have. And given that I've heard people complain about getting money because then they'll have to pay taxes, as if that causes the whole thing to net negative (it's silly when I say it baldly, of course, but I've heard this so often it's clearly a common cognitive template), it's really quite like that situation. Let's not be so worried about the possibility that someday wealth may be unequally distributed that we prevent it from being created in the first place.
• AnimalMuppet 11y ago
  To the society as a whole. To kind of amplify jerf's comment, think in terms of a society "spending" people, rather than "employing" people. You (the society) only have so many people; if you don't have to spend them on solar, you can spend them on other worthwhile things.