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> "In 50 years, only a minority will be able to earn a living on a free labor market." Marxist communism was predicated on this assumption, based on the increa
by lmkg 17y ago
> "In 50 years, only a minority will be able to earn a living on a free labor market."
Marxist communism was predicated on this assumption, based on the increasing efficiency of industrialism. It's an interesting idea, but historically the trend has been that increased efficiency leads to increased production and increased consumption, not static production and reduced labor. I see no reason why this would cease to be the case.
- pw0ncakes 17y agoThe "automation" that occurred in the Industrial Revolution was the standardization of process-- especially in regard to the use of capital-intensive machines that required a skilled workforce-- but those processes still required humans as the main actors, since robots and computers hadn't been invented yet. This led to a Jevons Paradox-- increased efficiency in the use of X, where X is human labor, led to the increased use of X. In 1944, full human employment was possible in the United States, for pretty much the last time. We're in the midst of another Jevons "paradox", but in this case, X is abstract computational (and mechanical, in the form of robots) power. So computers are becoming more powerful and prolific, replacing human labor. The result is that only people who are smart enough to understand the new regime can contribute in a sustainably economically valuable way; the rest will see the market value of their labor approach zero.
- jules 17y agoThere will come a time where it's pointless for some humans to work because everything they do machines can do better.
- gojomo 17y agoAt which point, they will be connected to the ZyngaBook pleasure orbs and allowed to live the rest of their natural lives in engaging but meaningless bliss?