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Another reason to strive for financial independence ASAP. I have to wonder though: if >50% of people currently employed lose their jobs to automation... who wi
by auxym 9y ago
Another reason to strive for financial independence ASAP.
I have to wonder though: if >50% of people currently employed lose their jobs to automation... who will be there to fuel the consumerist economy? Who will buy ads on Facebook and Google that peddle widgets and services for which there no more consumers with disposable income to market them to?
- gaius 9y agoAnother reason to strive for financial independence ASAP. How would this work? You can’t invest in shares, if companies have no consumers. You can’t invest in property if no one can afford rent. You would need not financial independence but independence from finance
- bob_theslob646 9y agoUBI? Great question.
- ztjio 9y agoUBI or we riot. Literally.
- ForRealsies 9y agoBread & Circus or we riot. Pragmatically.
- Double_a_92 9y agoIf every single job was automated... What do you think would happen? Ideally nobody has to work and everything you'd ever want is free.
- chii 9y ago> Ideally nobody has to work and everything you'd ever want is free. but in reality, people who don't have investments in the automation will just starve and die, while people who _do_ have such investments reap many rewards.
- disgruntledphd2 9y agoI think that, given the historical evidence (specifically the french revolution being driven by the price of bread), it's more likely that there will be mass unrest and those who own the robots may get executed to cheers of those whose jobs have been automated.
- dragonwriter 9y agoAnd, again judging by the French revolution (and the Russian, and numerous others), an elite subset of the revolutionaries will seize control of the robots, and the situation will return pretty much to status quo ante, except for the identity of the owner of the boot stomping the average guy in the face, and their philosophical justification for their exalted position.
- ForRealsies 9y agoI'm curious to how relative wealth (in regards to income inequality) impacts ones Standard of Living. After the bare necessities are acquired, is all 'standard of being' relative to how you perceive your place in reality?
- auxym 9y agoYes but, even those who invest in automation need a mass of middle class consumers to buy their products. Ford famously gave employees relatively high wages and weekends off specifically so they had money and reason (free time) to buy the very products they manufactured.