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I've thought about it recently, and I suspect the reason it works out for the most part (so far) is that the population self regulates to some degree. That is,
by Tichy 15y ago
I've thought about it recently, and I suspect the reason it works out for the most part (so far) is that the population self regulates to some degree. That is, people tend to have children when it makes sense for them. Leaving aside the "third world" (I think they might have different reasons), that means they tend to have children when they have jobs and therefore enough money to take care of the children.
Then there is a certain likelihood that the same kind of jobs they had are also available for their children. It happens now and then that entire industries break away, leaving millions of people jobless, but on average it seems to work out.
That doesn't imply it will continue to work like that in the future, though. In theory it is easy to imagine a world in which no human work is required anymore, which would call for new arrangements of society.
- Kliment 15y agoI like imagining that world. Trouble is, I don't see a clear political and societal path from here to there. (I do see a technical path.) So the question is, how can we, as a society, become less dependent on jobs at at least the same rate we are becoming more dependent on products of automation?
- dlikhten 15y agoImagine a world where home-made items are being manufactured by machines using increasingly less and less human power. Humans are only doing work that we don't know how to make machines do. This was the industrial revolution. Now it is the IR part Deux. Same shit, more complexities.
- Kliment 15y agoI'm pretty deeply involved with the reprap project. I have 4 printers at home. I don't need to imagine this. During the industrial revolution, access to the means of production was the primary determinant of wealth. Industrialists won big, most of the rest were factory slaves, essentially, except for craftsmen who were not replaceable by machine products. How does this translate to the modern world, where 3d printers are getting cheap enough for individual families, even relatively low-income ones in the developed world, to own?
- Tichy 15y agoI used to be more optimistic, because I thought the poor (jobless) would eventually claim their rights. But what if the rich have robot soldiers, too - how are the poor supposed to claim stuff then? Other than that, I suppose the government has to redistribute stuff. I don't see another way. Also, human reproduction will probably have to be regulated.