4 ms·
Sorry, but the economy exists to get returns on capital. Employment is a happy side-effect. If, in the far future, there are greater returns from employing rob
by srssays 10y ago
Sorry, but the economy exists to get returns on capital. Employment is a happy side-effect.
If, in the far future, there are greater returns from employing robots than humans, then those humans who need to work will starve.
- marchenko 10y agoBoth employment and returns on capital are a happy side effects of solving human problems and directing scarce resources to their highest and best use, the only human-aligned goals of an economy. Hunter-gatherers operated various economies for millennia with very little capital and almost no capital returns. But the definition that you supply is the one that is in operation, and will be almost impossible to dislodge. I'm not arguing that immiseration brought on by automation is unlikely, merely that it is not inevitable.