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What happens when automation starts to produce more physical, intrinsically valuable goods, though? I'm thinking of developments that don't just eliminate jobs
by EdSharkey 10y ago
What happens when automation starts to produce more physical, intrinsically valuable goods, though? I'm thinking of developments that don't just eliminate jobs, but also increase personal security.
Like, what if farming becomes primarily robotic. But, in the process of that transformation, each of us ends up with solar-powered, open-source driven backyard robots that tend gardens where the produce did not require pesticides nor chemicals to grow. Perhaps even raw materials for 3D printing and manufacturing of some household items could be raised as backyard crops.
You'd have less need to buy things that you need to survive, and so less need to work. Society probably will need to trend more socialistic, but perhaps automation will wind up allowing unemployed people to live more independent and self-sufficient than they can today.
- majewsky 10y agoThen the new kings will be the people who build these farming robots. (Unless we get easily reproducible open-source designs for these.)
- EdSharkey 10y agoYes, I believe that open source hardware and firmware would become an imperative if one actually intended to rely on robot-grown food as a supplement/replacement for store bought food. You wouldn't want to risk having Google revoke your license to eat.