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To me, the next great challenge of our time isn't finding the next SpaceX, but gradually dismantling the corporate dogma of full employment. The short-term goal
by zackmorris 7y ago
To me, the next great challenge of our time isn't finding the next SpaceX, but gradually dismantling the corporate dogma of full employment. The short-term goals should be along the lines of getting to a 30-hour work week, a single-payer healthcare system, free college and UBI from an automation moonshot.
The long-term goals should be about how to get everyone in the world self-actualized, but doing it sustainably so we don't destroy the planet in the process. We'll be on renewable energy by 2030, but the real destruction is happening due to manufacturing that we don't actually need. Getting demand flipped so that we can get to a sustainable or non-growth based economy is going to be tricky and may not happen before 2040-2050 as the singularity looms.
My dream for this would look like a 20-hour or less work week, with a great deal more capital available at the bottom with near-zero or negative interest rates. Young people would train for a few years in something like a peace corps doing the difficult work that nobody wants to do, then use the life skills they've learned to eliminate those hardships for everyone else going forward. Their degree or equivalent certificates would go towards hard disciplines, advancing things like medicine where devotion and commitment to a large organization is actually required.
But the rest of their time would be spent in their own endeavors in the humanities or working in maker spaces to invent new things. That's where the real innovation will come from. So instead of a the next SpaceX requiring $300 million, it will just need a few people with access to shared computing resources so they can iterate unfettered by the time suck of the workaday world.
We can look towards Star Trek for inspiration. In the meantime, I expect everything to go the opposite direction from the way I suggested, just like it has been for the last 20 years. We'll see more wealth inequality, more disenfranchisement, more neocolonialism. Unfortunately it's probably going to get worse before it gets better. But in spite of that, we can still envision the dream and work to manifest change locally in our own lives, as we plant seeds of hope globally.
- kingludite 7y agoI wonder if we can re-purpose our [computer] networking jargon to network humans. Since in biology the function is what drives maintenance and upgrades simply using peoples thoughts (like yours) will expand the ability. (also by example, monkey see monkey do) Perhaps something like supper nodes could produce passable data sets.
- jason5543 7y agoWhoa! Zack, I am a reporter for a local paper and I'd like to interview you for a piece about humble internet futurists. Could you give me your email so that I could send you a couple questions about rolling back corporate dogma and achieving 30 hour work weeks?
- zackmorris 7y agoYa sure, although I'm not exactly on the inside enough to be a futurist. These are just insights that I've gleaned from the school of hard knocks. Probably the easiest way to reach me is to friend me on LinkedIn (the link is in my profile).
- jason5543 7y agoIm not actually a journalist in fact I think you are the opposite of someone that should be interviewed.
- zackmorris 7y agoI know, I realized that just now, you got me. Hah I love this site!
- jseliger 7y agoA big help would be reforming local land use codes: https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/zoning-land-use-planning-housing-affordability https://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/zoning-lan...: This study reviews evidence on the effects of zoning and land-use regulation in three related areas: housing supply, housing affordability, and economic growth. The academic research on property regulation indicates that increased regulation is associated with a decline in supply, affordability, and growth. The literature indicates the effects are large, with a recent study suggesting that—because of regulation—economic growth declined by 50 percent and economic output declined by 8.9 percent between 1964 and 2009. Imagine having everyone's usable income rise between 8.9% and as much as 50%! That's a huge benefit. We are seeing some efforts in that direction: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/585765/golden-gates-by-conor-dougherty/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/585765/golden-gates... but not as much as we should.
- ororoo 7y agothat sounds very much like what world should be.. thankfully in my country (finland) we have these "free college", "free healthcare system", but 30 hour work week, nope, and seeing the old people running the show, never will happen.. star trek is inspirational to what future should go toward "betterment of one self" instead of getting gold.
- fartcannon 7y agoOld Star trek. The new stuff imagines a vastly different future.