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I'm sorry, but I stopped believing that this could ever happen a long long time ago. This is a belief that you can fill the world with people like yourself, hec

I'm sorry, but I stopped believing that this could ever happen a long long time ago. This is a belief that you can fill the world with people like yourself, heck I'll even venture that these are my 'ideal' people too. Where every conversation is something productive positive and curious and all of our fellow humans energies are directed away from petty rivalries over social status and access to mating partners , and toward minimizing suffering and maximizing whatever it is that makes humanity distinct from the rest of the flying molecular clouds of entropy that make up the universe. And then, you see what people actually do with the little free time, the precious little free time they actually have. An astonishingly large group spends hours a week in a ritual that involves sticking prosthetic bristles the size of paint brushes to their eyelids because it looks "hot." another group spends an equal amount of time fitting obnoxious light bars to their oversized pretend work vehicles to blind other drivers and pedestrians because its "cool." A still greater group, which encapsulates these two examples as well as many others like rhem, is chiefly interested in acquiring toys to show off to one another; a behavior that remarkably doesn't seem to ever get curbed no matter how wealthy and maximally free to do whatever they want, (like the aforementioned research and artistic pursuits) people become. As having access to essentially limitless energy and resources is comparable to winning the lottery, just for an entire civilization instead of a handful of people, as a sample ask yourself what is the fraction of today's lottery jackpot winners you suppose have taken their sudden windfall and with it the freedom and flexibility to do anything they want, and turned it toward personal pursuit of any of these noble interests such as you describe? I don't mean throwing some money at it for bragging rights and to feel like they've made some contribution to the world, I mean personal interest where they themselves engage in a focused program of skill development to a degree of expertise beyond what can be purchased off the shelf. I would wager that it's as close to zero as makes no difference, and this does not bode well for a future in which everyone is given a comparable access to leisure and resources to spend as they choose.

em-bee 3y ago
This is a belief that you can fill the world with people like yourself not at all. unless you limit the definition of being like yourself to be interested in learning useful things. you are not seeing the bigger picture: when most people are out of work because what they were doing until now is automated, we will have to come up with ways to keep them busy. but even if most of todays work is automated, there is still a lot of other work that humans can do: we need more doctors and teachers for example. but also artists and entertainers. so what needs to happen is that our education changes. basically, school is no longer just about learning the basics you need to function in society, but school will be more focused on training teachers, doctors, scientists, artists, entertainers and any other work that still should be done by humans. and no matter how much these people are like your or myself, when that happens, we will end up with a lot more scientists.

em-bee 3y ago

This is a belief that you can fill the world with people like yourself not at all. unless you limit the definition of being like yourself to be interested in learning useful things. you are not seeing the bigger picture: when most people are out of work because what they were doing until now is automated, we will have to come up with ways to keep them busy. but even if most of todays work is automated, there is still a lot of other work that humans can do: we need more doctors and teachers for example. but also artists and entertainers. so what needs to happen is that our education changes. basically, school is no longer just about learning the basics you need to function in society, but school will be more focused on training teachers, doctors, scientists, artists, entertainers and any other work that still should be done by humans. and no matter how much these people are like your or myself, when that happens, we will end up with a lot more scientists.