5 ms·

I genuinely believe we can make a world where no one is required to work for survival. We could intentionally automate as much as possible while also ensuring t

I genuinely believe we can make a world where no one is required to work for survival. We could intentionally automate as much as possible while also ensuring that automation is collectively owned. Then we could all collect dividends on our system with ample time off for "what we will" as the activists fighting for the 8 hour work day used to say. I believe strongly that the current economic system is effective primarily at concentrating wealth at the top and using the general population as a pool of cheap desperate labor. I believe we can actually generate more wealth if we abandon intellectual property and develop technologies specifically to free people from toil in an open, community-oriented way. Of course this will be a fight because those who hold the reins of power today have no interest in diluting their power. "But automation is expensive" - well engineering development is expensive. Which is why I think we should spread the costs out as much as possible - make everything open source, so none of the work is repeated, and anyone in the world hungry to get in on the action can contribute, instead of secretive siloed orgs spending a hundred million on some secret sauce for one single application, without sharing the benefit of that work for all the adjacent applications. Instead smaller investments distributed throughout the world will lead to large scale innovation of the crowd, the way we saw 3D printer development explode AFTER the patents expired. Because 1000 people working on an idea get way more done that one well funded organization in many cases. This is exactly the kind of innovation that patents extinguish, and worldwide agreements ensure patents have widespread enforcement. We all need the same basic necessities, so there is so much overlap, that these systems built by the crowd could rapidly mature. Eventually we could envision a system that can function with just 10% workforce participation, as people basically volunteer for maintenance and development. Before then we need to educate as many people as possible on engineering, robotics, and computer science. But the end goal of a world where a highly automated "means of production" is held in community ownership is I think very important. Working in a world of privately held companies with closed source engineering leads to VERY different engineering requirements, and fails to realize benefits of community based engineering development. There are people all over the world that need what you are developing, and some of them have the time and energy to make it their own and contribute their own spin. But only if we make that community. I have tried to discuss these concepts on my youtube channel in this latest video, though it was unscripted and I'd like to produce a clearer scripted version in the future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx_2-xwWJUk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx_2-xwWJUk EDIT: For additional motivation, I highly recommend this talk by Jenny Odell called "How To Do Nothing". I feel so strongly that we are wasting ourselves away at jobs that could be automated away, and this talk really captures some of what the alternatives could be for the human psyche: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izjlP9qtmBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izjlP9qtmBU

Simon_O_Rourke 4y ago
I admire your optimistic view, but in every collective project there's an a-hole just and solely looking out for themselves. And what you mightn't see is the threat this poses to the evidently unfair, but also evidently well entrenched status quo.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  Certainly a functioning collective needs ways of dealing with assholes. I’m a member of a local makerspace collective and it seems to handle this just fine. There is a rich history of collectives and cooperatives and I think given what is at stake, it would be better to pursue this end and manage the difficulties than give in to the assholes. I think it’s important to really understand what is at stake. The current structure of society is such that everyone is under the thumb of assholes today. Better to have an asshole as another member of a collective than an asshole as your boss. I do certainly understand the threat this poses to the well entrenched status quo. My strategy is to start small so the big players don’t believe you’re worth stopping, and then once you’ve proven your method works you’ve already picked up enough momentum to keep moving despite opposition. But in the end this is a project that will take lifetimes, and may never be achieved. I’d still rather work on this than design some robot designed to make the lives of very comfortable people slightly more comfortable, while simultaneously ensuring the CEO gets a new vacation home in Colorado.
vincnetas 4y ago
Don't forget to automate defence (yah that one, military), and how to prevent any interested party in controlling that automated defence system.
- TaylorAlexander 4y ago
  I think Americans over estimate how much investment in defense is needed. Massive defense spending is needed when you’re abusing the rest of the world. Less so if you’re not.
  - 4y ago

Simon_O_Rourke 4y ago

I admire your optimistic view, but in every collective project there's an a-hole just and solely looking out for themselves. And what you mightn't see is the threat this poses to the evidently unfair, but also evidently well entrenched status quo.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago
Certainly a functioning collective needs ways of dealing with assholes. I’m a member of a local makerspace collective and it seems to handle this just fine. There is a rich history of collectives and cooperatives and I think given what is at stake, it would be better to pursue this end and manage the difficulties than give in to the assholes. I think it’s important to really understand what is at stake. The current structure of society is such that everyone is under the thumb of assholes today. Better to have an asshole as another member of a collective than an asshole as your boss. I do certainly understand the threat this poses to the well entrenched status quo. My strategy is to start small so the big players don’t believe you’re worth stopping, and then once you’ve proven your method works you’ve already picked up enough momentum to keep moving despite opposition. But in the end this is a project that will take lifetimes, and may never be achieved. I’d still rather work on this than design some robot designed to make the lives of very comfortable people slightly more comfortable, while simultaneously ensuring the CEO gets a new vacation home in Colorado.

vincnetas 4y ago

Don't forget to automate defence (yah that one, military), and how to prevent any interested party in controlling that automated defence system.

TaylorAlexander 4y ago
I think Americans over estimate how much investment in defense is needed. Massive defense spending is needed when you’re abusing the rest of the world. Less so if you’re not.
- 4y ago