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Hear me out here, I am a software developer. Part of what many of us do is write software which automate things, such as business processes and manufacturing. This software allows business to be run faster, better, cheaper. When you think about what "cheaper" is, it means with less manpower really.
So a department which had 50 people can now be run with intelligent software and 5 people.
Over the past ten years software developers such as myself have been automating almost every aspect of the business process, allowing businesses to require less and less human resources for the things they do. We are looking at fully automated factories now. As in, no humans required at all, except to maintain the machines which are quite reliable anyway. This naturally reduces the amount of available jobs.
This trend will continue until we develop something called "general intelligence", the ultimate goal of computer science. At that point, there will no need for human labor at all, as machines will generally be more intelligent and apt then us anyway. And no, general intelligence is not sci-fi, it's contemporary research. If you wonder how capitalism fits into this "brave new world", well, it doesn't. As there will be no need for human labor, humans will not be required to actually do anything, and thus the concept of a free market economy will be pretty useless.
Of course this is a gradual process, but software automation in general will ensure that the net amount of human labor will decrease over time especially in the menial jobs. Unfortunately menial jobs employ a subnational number of people, and these people are not really qualified to do anything else.
Last edited by phrostbyte; 11-12-2008 at 10:51 PM..
One of the many roles in the total revolution of humanity. That's been happening for a while. It used to be people being replaced with machines with minimal computer intelligence (although at the time it looked very complicated). As the computer intel becomes stronger and stronger the more of the workforce can be pushed aside.
It's only going to be service jobs before to long. I think your message is dead on.
Well the ultimate goal "general AI" will replace all forms of human labor, including service based jobs and R&D. Basically all forms of human labor will be inadequate compared to what can done with general intelligence.
Right now we are most intelligent things (that we know of). The human brain is capable of judgment and reason beyond any modern computer. But that will probably change.
Anyway the move towards socialism is a natural effect of the decreased demand of human labor. And as long as technology progresses, so will the demand of human labor decrease, and thus the demand of socialism will also increase.
Well the ultimate goal "general AI" will replace all forms of human labor, including service based jobs and AI. We are most intelligent things we know, the human brain, capable of judgment and reason beyond any modern computer. But that will probably change.
Anyway the move towards socialism is a natural effect of the decreased demand of human labor.
Your ideas in a movie:
[URL="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912"]Zeitgeist: Addendum[/URL]
I really didn't see that movie. This was just my own observation of the way technology in my industry is heading.
What I am really hoping is some right wing/conservative people comment on this, because I see that they are very against socialism, because they think it makes people lazy.
But the real truth is not everyone needs to work.. in fact in the future very few people will need to work. So what then?
People are naturally afraid of things that are unknown to them, a trait that is probably inherited a long time ago since it's also shared by most animals. One aspect of intelligence could be argued to be the notion of self preservation. So I believe that statement to be contrary: civilization is most likely to destroy itself by a lack of intelligence.
Hear me out here, I am a software developer. Part of what many of us do is write software which automate things, such as business processes and manufacturing. This software allows business to be run faster, better, cheaper. When you think about what "cheaper" is, it means with less manpower really.
So a department which had 50 people can now be run with intelligent software and 5 people.
Over the past ten years software developers such as myself have been automating almost every aspect of the business process, allowing businesses to require less and less human resources for the things they do. We are looking at fully automated factories now. As in, no humans required at all, except to maintain the machines which are quite reliable anyway. This naturally reduces the amount of available jobs.
This trend will continue until we develop something called "general intelligence", the ultimate goal of computer science. At that point, there will no need for human labor at all, as machines will generally be more intelligent and apt then us anyway. And no, general intelligence is not sci-fi, it's contemporary research. If you wonder how capitalism fits into this "brave new world", well, it doesn't. As there will be no need for human labor, humans will not be required to actually do anything, and thus the concept of a free market economy will be pretty useless.
Of course this is a gradual process, but software automation in general will ensure that the net amount of human labor will decrease over time especially in the menial jobs. Unfortunately menial jobs employ a subnational number of people, and these people are not really qualified to do anything else.
It's going to be a real long time before this becomes practical or widespread.
It's going to be a real long time before this becomes practical or widespread.
It's already practical and widespread, not general intelligence mind you, but specific intelligence such as business intelligence and general automation.
All this really started about 10,000 years ago in a spiritual sense, when the farming revolution allowed humans to have titles other then "hunter" or "gatherer".
The past 150 years - the Industrial Revolution really picked up the torch like not other era in recorded history, and even so we are seen a very rapid increase in automation in just the past 10 years. Mostly thanks to huge advancements in computer hardware and software engineering practices.
Practically speaking, with the technology and software engineering state of the art, we can today, completely automate most farming, logistics, manufacturing, and retail operations. There is of course a capital expense but it is decreasing.
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It's actually ends in pure communism.
