4 ms·

Perhaps humanity would happily share the benefits of machine work and we can all spend idyllics lifes eating, laughing and loving while exploring the galaxy?

by ddalex 4y ago

LambdaComplex 4y ago
Great idea! Under the current system, the rich can do just that while everyone else literally starves to death :)
- pkaye 4y ago
  Then the rich will have no consumers.
  - ericd 4y ago
    Why do you need consumers when you have machines making most of what you want? Then you just need to be able to trade things with other people who have different machines and resources from yourself to get the bits you can't have made by your machines.
    - pkaye 4y ago
      So you are saying everyone will have those machines?
      - passion__desire 4y ago
        Nope. He is saying power concentration will increase further. This is also Yuval Noah Harari's thesis. You can read about how that will get achieved here. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/yuval-noah-harari-technology-tyranny/568330/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/yuval-n...
    - astrange 4y ago
      Where do the inputs for the machines come from? ex: having a machine that generates CPUs out of sand and works for free would mean cheaper CPUs, but it would also mean a lot more employment in the sand industry, and there might not be a machine for creating sand. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
      - ericd 4y ago
        Large mining robots? Some dump trucks are already autonomous, I'm guessing excavators aren't far.
        astrange 4y ago
        Do they stop being autonomous when they get a flat tire?
        ericd 4y ago
        Currently, yeah, but people will certainly work down the priority chain.
  - rcarr 4y ago
    Maybe they’re after some Highlander style planet where « there can be only one »
- astrange 4y ago
  If they’re not trading with everyone else they’re not rich. Being rich /is/ the ability to trade a lot. The idea that rich people will all leave and start a different rich-people-only economy that somehow takes all the economic activity with it isn’t how it really works, it’s the plot of Atlas Shrugged.
jmfldn 4y ago
Under a different economic system maybe. Have you seen how our one actually works? See the film Elysium for a more plausible future.
EwanG 4y ago
So "Childhood's End" without the aliens?

Perhaps humanity would happily share the benefits of machine work and we can all spend idyllics lifes eating, laughing and loving while exploring the galaxy?

by ddalex 4y ago

Perhaps humanity would happily share the benefits of machine work and we can all spend idyllics lifes eating, laughing and loving while exploring the galaxy?

LambdaComplex 4y ago

Great idea! Under the current system, the rich can do just that while everyone else literally starves to death :)

pkaye 4y ago
Then the rich will have no consumers.
- ericd 4y ago
  Why do you need consumers when you have machines making most of what you want? Then you just need to be able to trade things with other people who have different machines and resources from yourself to get the bits you can't have made by your machines.
  - pkaye 4y ago
    So you are saying everyone will have those machines?
    - passion__desire 4y ago
      Nope. He is saying power concentration will increase further. This is also Yuval Noah Harari's thesis. You can read about how that will get achieved here. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/yuval-noah-harari-technology-tyranny/568330/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/yuval-n...
  - astrange 4y ago
    Where do the inputs for the machines come from? ex: having a machine that generates CPUs out of sand and works for free would mean cheaper CPUs, but it would also mean a lot more employment in the sand industry, and there might not be a machine for creating sand. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
    - ericd 4y ago
      Large mining robots? Some dump trucks are already autonomous, I'm guessing excavators aren't far.
      - astrange 4y ago
        Do they stop being autonomous when they get a flat tire?
        ericd 4y ago
        Currently, yeah, but people will certainly work down the priority chain.
- rcarr 4y ago
  Maybe they’re after some Highlander style planet where « there can be only one »
astrange 4y ago
If they’re not trading with everyone else they’re not rich. Being rich /is/ the ability to trade a lot. The idea that rich people will all leave and start a different rich-people-only economy that somehow takes all the economic activity with it isn’t how it really works, it’s the plot of Atlas Shrugged.

jmfldn 4y ago

Under a different economic system maybe. Have you seen how our one actually works? See the film Elysium for a more plausible future.

EwanG 4y ago

So "Childhood's End" without the aliens?