4 ms·
There are lots of unknowns left in this world, and lots of exploring left to do. Space, curing disease, and finding additional sources of clean water and energy
by bsbechtel 11y ago
There are lots of unknowns left in this world, and lots of exploring left to do. Space, curing disease, and finding additional sources of clean water and energy are all areas that require lots of work and human ingenuity. The challenge is getting people educated to do work in these fields and allocating capital properly. The unskilled labor market was known as the illiterate labor market 100 years ago, and we overcame that challenge, lifting those people up and educating them on how to read. The same can be done again, we just need to figure out how to do so.
- jjoonathan 11y agoYes, there are undiscovered future uses for labor and the capital/labor imbalance could be alleviated (or exacerbated) by discovering them. It is still utterly absurd to bind the wellbeing of our society to a gamble on the rate of discovery and the extent of these untapped resources.
- bsbechtel 11y agoMy point was more we should look to re-allocate resources, financial and human, to discovery producing activities in the future, i.e. R&D, thus employing, educating, and empowering people, regardless of the actual rate of discovery per person/dollar invested in R&D.
- jjoonathan 11y agoI completely agree that this would be the best approach in terms of long-term value generation. If I were emperor for a day it's how I would tackle the problem. I just don't see any realistic way to make this vision a reality (other than conquering the world, of course) so I don't focus on it.