5 ms·

There's still a matter of status. When everything mass produced is cheap, the wealthy will demand hand produced goods. Entertainment will not all go free -- it

There's still a matter of status. When everything mass produced is cheap, the wealthy will demand hand produced goods. Entertainment will not all go free -- it will still cost goods and services to create more elaborate entertainment. (How do you stage an 18th century show? Perhaps CGI will be advanced enough to cover the material cost, but how do you organize 150 people doing CGI without paying them? After all, nobody wants to do the grunt work for free...) The problem, instead, looks to be that we won't have enough for unskilled labor to do. We used to be able to throw them at manufacturing -- even that is going away.

cperciva 16y ago
There's still a matter of status. When everything mass produced is cheap, the wealthy will demand hand produced goods. Why would I want something produced by a human when I can instead get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances? Humans are very poor craftsmen; their only advantage is that so far everything else is even worse. 20 years from now we'll probably react to hand-made goods the same way as parents today react to what their 5 year old children produce -- admire, praise, and then place on an out-of-the-way shelf to collect dust.
- wazoox 16y ago
  > Why would I want something produced by a human when I can instead get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances? Because of social norms. Aren't you aware that a 5000$ swiss watch is always inferior to any 5$ chinese watch, from a precision point of view? Why do you think that rich people assemble at Pebble Beach and buys 50 years old cars for 3 millions $? Because objectively, a Ferrari GTO sucks compared to anything made by volkswagen nowadays on almost any aspect but looks.
- Vivtek 16y ago
  Because anybody can get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances. Therefore it looks cheap and gauche, and darling, you surely can't want that on your shelf, can you? My God, it looks like you'd bought it at K-Mart, dear.
  - dcx 16y ago
    Exactly. $100,000 limited run Patek Philippe watches? One-of-a-kind works of art/clothing/food which come with a story and an "experience"? Even today people a farmers market to a supermarket. Perhaps this will change when robots are able to create completely individually-customised products, but we're already pretty close to that. Some people will always value "authenticity".
- nostromo 16y ago
  This already happens today. Rolex: handcrafted, expensive, not very accurate. Digital watch at Target: mass-produced, cheap, and very accurate.
  - cperciva 16y ago
    Yes, but how many people buy Rolex watches? There are always going to be idiots in the world; but this is a very small group of idiots.
    - jfarmer 16y ago
      They aren't idiots just because they don't share your values.
      - cperciva 16y ago
        Of course not. Sharing my values is irrelevant. They're just idiots because they pay more for a lower quality product.
        jfarmer 16y ago
        Really you mean, "I think they're idiots because..." There are many reasons someone might want to buy a Rolex, of which quality is just one. Why are they idiots for having reasons you disapprove of?
  - gaius 16y ago
    Yes but if you follow that argument to its logical conclusion then we're all wearing unisex wipe-clean grey jumpsuits, on the basis that they're the most efficiently functional clothing. The funny thing about high-end anything is that you buy it once and it's yours for the rest of your life, vs buying something cheap and replacing it every year (or 5 years or whatever). That Rolex is self-powering and can be repaired in a backroom workshop (quite literally at a 1930s tech level) and will last long enough to pass onto your kids. The Timex has to be replaced with a whole new unit, and damaged ones go into landfill. Manufacturing the Timex involves sweatshop labour and toxic chemicals for the semiconductors. Etc..
- cma 16y ago
  Why would anyone want a hand-made spoon? http://books.google.com/books?id=D__29PemDKoC&pg=PA88&dq=theory+of+the+leisure+class+spoon&hl=en&ei=CIGpTMiwHYH88AaO_JX3DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=D__29PemDKoC&pg=PA88&#3... Written in ~1898
- thecoffeeman 16y ago
  Because perfection is boring.
- tsotha 16y ago
  >Why would I want something produced by a human when I can instead get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances? The problem here is you're thinking like a technical person. You don't buy a Rolex to keep time. You buy a Rolex to let women around you know you can afford to buy a Rolex. Same goes with a Ferrari or Bruno Maglis or any of the other conspicuous brands.
hoelle 16y ago
Yeah, I don't know why we're blaming facebook. Seems like Industrialization has been "killing the economy" for a while.[1] But I think unskilled labor is still doing okay... as long as you'll work cheaper than machines (which is why the demand for illegal immigrants is still so high). [1] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Hdobado20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Hdobado20
gaius 16y ago
You say that like it's a bad thing. But it's Shakespeare at the Globe vs CGI teen gorefest 16: the splattering at the Megaplex.

cperciva 16y ago

There's still a matter of status. When everything mass produced is cheap, the wealthy will demand hand produced goods. Why would I want something produced by a human when I can instead get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances? Humans are very poor craftsmen; their only advantage is that so far everything else is even worse. 20 years from now we'll probably react to hand-made goods the same way as parents today react to what their 5 year old children produce -- admire, praise, and then place on an out-of-the-way shelf to collect dust.

wazoox 16y ago
> Why would I want something produced by a human when I can instead get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances? Because of social norms. Aren't you aware that a 5000$ swiss watch is always inferior to any 5$ chinese watch, from a precision point of view? Why do you think that rich people assemble at Pebble Beach and buys 50 years old cars for 3 millions $? Because objectively, a Ferrari GTO sucks compared to anything made by volkswagen nowadays on almost any aspect but looks.
Vivtek 16y ago
Because anybody can get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances. Therefore it looks cheap and gauche, and darling, you surely can't want that on your shelf, can you? My God, it looks like you'd bought it at K-Mart, dear.
- dcx 16y ago
  Exactly. $100,000 limited run Patek Philippe watches? One-of-a-kind works of art/clothing/food which come with a story and an "experience"? Even today people a farmers market to a supermarket. Perhaps this will change when robots are able to create completely individually-customised products, but we're already pretty close to that. Some people will always value "authenticity".
nostromo 16y ago
This already happens today. Rolex: handcrafted, expensive, not very accurate. Digital watch at Target: mass-produced, cheap, and very accurate.
- cperciva 16y ago
  Yes, but how many people buy Rolex watches? There are always going to be idiots in the world; but this is a very small group of idiots.
  - jfarmer 16y ago
    They aren't idiots just because they don't share your values.
    - cperciva 16y ago
      Of course not. Sharing my values is irrelevant. They're just idiots because they pay more for a lower quality product.
      - jfarmer 16y ago
        Really you mean, "I think they're idiots because..." There are many reasons someone might want to buy a Rolex, of which quality is just one. Why are they idiots for having reasons you disapprove of?
- gaius 16y ago
  Yes but if you follow that argument to its logical conclusion then we're all wearing unisex wipe-clean grey jumpsuits, on the basis that they're the most efficiently functional clothing. The funny thing about high-end anything is that you buy it once and it's yours for the rest of your life, vs buying something cheap and replacing it every year (or 5 years or whatever). That Rolex is self-powering and can be repaired in a backroom workshop (quite literally at a 1930s tech level) and will last long enough to pass onto your kids. The Timex has to be replaced with a whole new unit, and damaged ones go into landfill. Manufacturing the Timex involves sweatshop labour and toxic chemicals for the semiconductors. Etc..
cma 16y ago
Why would anyone want a hand-made spoon? http://books.google.com/books?id=D__29PemDKoC&pg=PA88&dq=theory+of+the+leisure+class+spoon&hl=en&ei=CIGpTMiwHYH88AaO_JX3DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=D__29PemDKoC&pg=PA88&#3... Written in ~1898
thecoffeeman 16y ago
Because perfection is boring.
tsotha 16y ago
>Why would I want something produced by a human when I can instead get something produced by a robot to within 0.001" tolerances? The problem here is you're thinking like a technical person. You don't buy a Rolex to keep time. You buy a Rolex to let women around you know you can afford to buy a Rolex. Same goes with a Ferrari or Bruno Maglis or any of the other conspicuous brands.

hoelle 16y ago

Yeah, I don't know why we're blaming facebook. Seems like Industrialization has been "killing the economy" for a while.[1] But I think unskilled labor is still doing okay... as long as you'll work cheaper than machines (which is why the demand for illegal immigrants is still so high). [1] - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Hdobado20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Hdobado20

gaius 16y ago

You say that like it's a bad thing. But it's Shakespeare at the Globe vs CGI teen gorefest 16: the splattering at the Megaplex.