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This will only get worse as jobs get replaced by ais and robots, which will be owned by the wealthiest people as well. The darkest timeline is one in which the

This will only get worse as jobs get replaced by ais and robots, which will be owned by the wealthiest people as well. The darkest timeline is one in which the wealthy decide that the vast number of humans are unnecessary surplus to be eliminated, as the wealthy retreat into secure enclaves guarded by robot armies, leaving the rest to serve as slaves or to starve and die.

conanbatt 9y ago
The concept of surplus population is well accounted for in Das Capital as a way for manufacturers to absorb people from the farm lands at meager wages. The world however is not so dark, even at our worst.
MrBuddyCasino 9y ago
Traditionally the way to cull surplus population has been war. This is not possible anymore with two children per family on average, you just can't maintain popular support for that in a democracy. With ever bigger numbers of unemployed people's life going nowhere, that could change.
averagewall 9y ago
You're describing present day America, as well as all developed countries. They protect their "enclaves" from the masses of poor outside their borders using their armies.
wbillingsley 9y ago
They won't eliminate you. Just ignore you to play videogames in your parents' basement until it is clear that your future is gone. After all, in parts of most western countries, that is already what they are doing to local youth. Starvation, elimination, or enslavement? Why would they bother. They'll probably be quite generous with the foodstamps -- you're less likely to act up if they toss you a tin of beans now and again, and they can bemoan the ungrateful idleness of today's youth.
pdkl95 9y ago
We've been the path to the "darkest timeline". Mark Blyth (Prof. of political economy at Brown) has been warning his hedge fund friends that that, "the Hamptons is not a defensible position. ... Eventually people will come for you."[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzl4B3mrKQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzl4B3mrKQE
- uoaei 9y ago
  That's why they're building prepper-bunkers!

conanbatt 9y ago

The concept of surplus population is well accounted for in Das Capital as a way for manufacturers to absorb people from the farm lands at meager wages. The world however is not so dark, even at our worst.

MrBuddyCasino 9y ago

Traditionally the way to cull surplus population has been war. This is not possible anymore with two children per family on average, you just can't maintain popular support for that in a democracy. With ever bigger numbers of unemployed people's life going nowhere, that could change.

averagewall 9y ago

You're describing present day America, as well as all developed countries. They protect their "enclaves" from the masses of poor outside their borders using their armies.

wbillingsley 9y ago

They won't eliminate you. Just ignore you to play videogames in your parents' basement until it is clear that your future is gone. After all, in parts of most western countries, that is already what they are doing to local youth. Starvation, elimination, or enslavement? Why would they bother. They'll probably be quite generous with the foodstamps -- you're less likely to act up if they toss you a tin of beans now and again, and they can bemoan the ungrateful idleness of today's youth.

pdkl95 9y ago

We've been the path to the "darkest timeline". Mark Blyth (Prof. of political economy at Brown) has been warning his hedge fund friends that that, "the Hamptons is not a defensible position. ... Eventually people will come for you."[1] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzl4B3mrKQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzl4B3mrKQE

uoaei 9y ago
That's why they're building prepper-bunkers!