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It's so hard to get people to understand the importance of the current Job Expectation not being relevant in the not too far distant future. Working as an old f

It's so hard to get people to understand the importance of the current Job Expectation not being relevant in the not too far distant future. Working as an old fashion wage-slave will be overshadowed by the coming wave of automation. Tens of millions of redundancies will occur just from self-driving cars. The notion a Job Guarantee will be outdated (if it isn't already), not to mention impossible & quite possibly harmful for technological progress. I reckon people will become like you, working to improve the systems that support our infrastructure. Where the work of one provides for many. Where schooling isn't some odd prepping for ye old industrialization period but directly launching us into reinventing agriculture, energy grids, transportation, space exploration, production & knowledge. Where we will become not to a resource economy or a services economy. But a research, knowledge and engineering (automation) economy. When everyone's expectations of conventional capitalism dies down. We will truly transform as a civilization.

avz 12y ago
I doubt we will all become engineers, scientists and technologists working on reinventing agriculture and energy grids in any foreseeable future (quite possibly any future at all). The wave of automation you're talking about has already been happening for a long time and is the reason we live in a services-based economy. We automate (and outsource) manufacturing, but increase the direct human-to-human exchanges called services. Starbucks provides a startling example: making a coffee was automated a long time ago, but people still would rather have another person make their coffee. I'm pretty sure the same is true about hairdressers, stylists, nurses, personal trainers and glacier guides. (Note: I'm not advocating a policy or direction, merely stating an observation)
- RyanMiller 12y ago
  True and it's a fair observation. But I'm sure that modern and future automation will create a fundamental shift in how we see ourselves. Understandable that it's jarring to most people. My biggest concerns are that not enough will change to accommodate this future. Given how customarily slow government is to accurately and appropriately re-access policies/laws when new technology dramatically changes our civilization. If I think enough about it I realize just how blindly optimistic this all is. Frankly thinking like this might be one of the reasons we may help us reach beyond the coal and sky. You're probably right that this isn't the future we'll get. Just like that old prediction that the Radioisotope generator would power all electronics since it was the superior energy source at the time. Then Chernobyl hysteria changed our future. Probably just like some famous automated car crash that will likely occur. Or a neo-luddite media circus. Who knows what's gonna happen in 50 years. I don't think automation means removing human interaction out of the picture. And I think people's desire for a person to do this work is going to subside as more interactions are personal instead of commercial. It'll free up us to do activities that are more creative, experimental & empathetic with each other. So if anything, it'd be redistributing human interaction into more social roles than compared to a face punching buttons and pulling levers. The whole giving people in Retirement homes electronics animal things to cover the basic human requirement of physical touch and simulated bonding would become unnecessary (hopefully). Since families lifetimes wouldn't be devastated/adsorbed by trying to sustain your bodies physical requirements and running the financial treadmill optimized by bankers. "I doubt we will all become engineers, scientists and technologists" We don't need to all become those things. But to orient our education in new ways to supports primarily these groups and the rest of people learn value creating activities that support each other & themselves. There will probably be some kind currently unimaginable creatives economy where large parts of society are centered around art and media. Yeah this turned into a huge stupid rant. Time to sleep the stupid off. For instance, automation of carpentry won't destroy carpentry as a skill. Because people like doing these things and when they aren't forced do it. As a wage as it's often a creative outlet. Many love their jobs as a hobby but it just becomes work for a wage. Then the hobby become a chore and no longer satisfying or valuable personal time investment. Especially if we start considering how little time we have on Earth. This could be as significant as the step from Slavery to Workers. Except instead of soft-choice, this would put voluntarism as the center piece. Which would then lead to society's institutions being also based on charity/voluntarism.

avz 12y ago

I doubt we will all become engineers, scientists and technologists working on reinventing agriculture and energy grids in any foreseeable future (quite possibly any future at all). The wave of automation you're talking about has already been happening for a long time and is the reason we live in a services-based economy. We automate (and outsource) manufacturing, but increase the direct human-to-human exchanges called services. Starbucks provides a startling example: making a coffee was automated a long time ago, but people still would rather have another person make their coffee. I'm pretty sure the same is true about hairdressers, stylists, nurses, personal trainers and glacier guides. (Note: I'm not advocating a policy or direction, merely stating an observation)

RyanMiller 12y ago
True and it's a fair observation. But I'm sure that modern and future automation will create a fundamental shift in how we see ourselves. Understandable that it's jarring to most people. My biggest concerns are that not enough will change to accommodate this future. Given how customarily slow government is to accurately and appropriately re-access policies/laws when new technology dramatically changes our civilization. If I think enough about it I realize just how blindly optimistic this all is. Frankly thinking like this might be one of the reasons we may help us reach beyond the coal and sky. You're probably right that this isn't the future we'll get. Just like that old prediction that the Radioisotope generator would power all electronics since it was the superior energy source at the time. Then Chernobyl hysteria changed our future. Probably just like some famous automated car crash that will likely occur. Or a neo-luddite media circus. Who knows what's gonna happen in 50 years. I don't think automation means removing human interaction out of the picture. And I think people's desire for a person to do this work is going to subside as more interactions are personal instead of commercial. It'll free up us to do activities that are more creative, experimental & empathetic with each other. So if anything, it'd be redistributing human interaction into more social roles than compared to a face punching buttons and pulling levers. The whole giving people in Retirement homes electronics animal things to cover the basic human requirement of physical touch and simulated bonding would become unnecessary (hopefully). Since families lifetimes wouldn't be devastated/adsorbed by trying to sustain your bodies physical requirements and running the financial treadmill optimized by bankers. "I doubt we will all become engineers, scientists and technologists" We don't need to all become those things. But to orient our education in new ways to supports primarily these groups and the rest of people learn value creating activities that support each other & themselves. There will probably be some kind currently unimaginable creatives economy where large parts of society are centered around art and media. Yeah this turned into a huge stupid rant. Time to sleep the stupid off. For instance, automation of carpentry won't destroy carpentry as a skill. Because people like doing these things and when they aren't forced do it. As a wage as it's often a creative outlet. Many love their jobs as a hobby but it just becomes work for a wage. Then the hobby become a chore and no longer satisfying or valuable personal time investment. Especially if we start considering how little time we have on Earth. This could be as significant as the step from Slavery to Workers. Except instead of soft-choice, this would put voluntarism as the center piece. Which would then lead to society's institutions being also based on charity/voluntarism.