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> find a way to a new system that doesn't directly link labour with income. that system was called communism, and so far, it has not had any of the success tha
by chii 4y ago
> find a way to a new system that doesn't directly link labour with income.
that system was called communism, and so far, it has not had any of the success that those envisioning it had wanted.
I cannot see how ownership of the output of automation and AI could be distributed evenly. At best, the people being made obsolete would be given food stamps and the barest of life's necessities so they don't die in the streets (and even that, is getting hard as earth runs out of resources). Until the day humanity discovers how to obtain a post-scarcity society, all income must directly be linked to labour.
- kelseyfrog 4y ago> Until the day humanity discovers how to obtain a post-scarcity society, all income must directly be linked to labour. What are you talking about? Our economic system's very name describes who gets income without they themselves doing labor. The entire point of capitalism is that the capital-owning class gets to profit from the labor of others. So no, we don't have all income linked to labor. The income of capitalists sure as heck isn't.
- chii 4y ago> The income of capitalists sure as heck isn't. but where did the capitalists first got their capital? Why with labour of course! Their own labour, or their family's, or their grand-parent, etc.
- kelseyfrog 4y agoI don't think that has any bearing on the response.
- chii 4y agothe capital that a capitalist spends is just unconsumed labour. It is directly related to the production of output (and thus income), just like labour is, because it _is_ another form of labour - let's call it solidified labour. a system that doesn't directly link labour with income is basically describing welfare (a basic income for example). The income given to someone receiving this welfare did not produce any output that counterbalances the resources they received - aka, they are a net consumer. Without post-scarcity, there cannot be many net consumers, for what they consume, must be produced somehow by another (who is not a net consumer).
- kelseyfrog 4y agoThat is a much better argument for why profit is like welfare than how profit is like wages.