RE: The Future of Work: On Creation, Curation, and Consumption
This is one of the best and most accessible discussions I have seen of this coming change. You are right that most job tasks can be automated and that those that will still be left to humans will be the only ones that require something extra. I do not think this greater automation will be dark, either. It has the potential to unlock a lot of time and value that people could spend doing other things.
But I am not convinced that this will not result in some pretty unfortunate disparities for the human population: haves and have nots to a greater degree than we've seen. It does not have to be that way. And that raises the question of whether we leave that to the market (which could be largely dominated and manipulated by a few large companies, though they might realize there won't be many people to buy their products if everyone is dirt poor and ready to revolt) or intervene with something like a basic income or creating everyone some role in the economy to enable people to participate at a certain level. I don't have a clear answer to that one.
What we need is a real post-scarcity society, where as a starting point, nothing that humans need to sustain themselves is even possible to profit from, because following economic laws, the profit is following a downward curve along with the production costs. We are moving towards zero marginal cost. Of course, if we still have a capitalist system, the floor will just be moved upwards, and there will still be ways to turn capital into political power. But if the majority of the population are able to sustain themselves, they will be much more difficult to influence.
That's a very good point. So far, there may have been a case that welfare makes people lazy. They don't have an incentive to work hard if they can get what they really need for free. But when there aren't any jobs for most people anyway, does it matter whether they're lazy or productive? Presumably, there would still be innovation and a capitalist opportunity, but in your scenario I think that would be above and beyond sustenance level needs, so not everyone would participate.
I have to tell you that I'm living on welfare, and the reason I do is among other things that I have ADHD, and I'm takinbg care of my son, who also has ADHD, and it's a tough job. Living on welfare means living in poverty,and in addition in a poverty trap, because if I work I lose my benefits,and I would have to put in a lot more working hours than I could possibly manage, for little compensation. That being said, I am really motivated to contribute to society. But in most cases, the wage labour that is available is not contributing anything substantial to society. I believe in people,and their compassion for one another,and I believe that we are living in a society that counteracts that. Look at most tribal societies,thwy have a very egalitarian system,the only downpoint being that they tend to be in rivalry with other groups,although that has not changed that much,it's just that the groups that we identify with have become bigger. My hope is that we will extend our empathy to all life, eventually.
Great perspective. Many are in the trap already. Thanks for helping me understand and I hope things go well for you in the future.
Thank you, I appreciate the concern. Things are looking up, I have understood how to make money,with crypto. My goal is to help humanity in whatever way I'm able to, and not just myself. But I have to start by getting myself out of poverty,and steemit has been a great help there,although it's not really a fair system.
Thanks for the comment @donkeypong :)
Yup, although I'd think it's more like a race. Reckless implementations of stuff that grows quickly with no recourse / control is actually quite possible at this point.
As for the rest of your comment, this video here is pretty good consumerism since the early days and how it's been progressing :)