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I think it is possible that with robots doing all the work humans don't want to, we could definitely all be "rich" and have the kind of freedom that only the very privileged have been able to in the past.
There really is no more unrealistic utopia than the picture being drooled over here. Why do I get this strange feeling the robots will also come to some sort of Final Solution.
If you have liberals coming to the conclusion humans are the problem you think robots would never come to that same conclusion.
Half a century ago, the notion of a society run by machines--leaving humans with nothing but leisure time--was considered some kind of utopian dream. Funny how dreams have a way of turning into nightmares.
I've posted about this several times before. The fact is, between out sourcing overseas and expanding automation, we are headed for an economic meltdown of a different sort. Despite what kind of education you have or have not got there will be a shortage of jobs for the able bodied population in the years to come.
What will we do with millions that have no jobs and no hope of getting one? I understand in employment scarce parts of Europe workers can opt to job- share. Perhaps the future will be more leisure time...forced free time.
Let's see, why should we stop reproducing if there are no jobs?
How can you afford food, accommodations, etc?
If you are going to raise people in poverty, what's the point?
This is rational, logical thinking. When people are in survival mode they use an entirely different one. Its called just in case.
Just in case half your children die (which in that kind of world is entirely possible) you have lots. So there is someone around to take care of you when your past your prime. Grandparents lived with their families way back when. They helped teach the younger members of the family how to survive and the skills they needed in every day life, but they watched the little ones. They cooked. They mended. They did the things that freed mom and dad to deal with physical survival.
And there is a human drive to pass on who you are. Children do have a role in a survival level society and certainly in an agricultural one, but beyond that its wired inside us. When the mother is too weak to carry a pregnancy through she ceases to cycle, but even up to that it functions. If you have a high death rate, then you have a high birth rate. It comes with the nature of humanity.
And *family* matters so much more than today when that is all you have to cling to. Children are part of that. Multigenerational families balance each other out and provide the stability for people to go on. Just as communtities form around several families, usually not individuals unless they have become as close.
In the techno world, no matter how much whizbang there is there is no way the rest of the population could be given a "reasonable" lifestyle (one where they had shelter and food, just the basics for some kind of reward). It would be a seriously divided world with a small and priviledged elite and a general population that lives like the third world.
Ultimately the elite will have to hide in their cities because they poor will not care what happens to them since it won't matter anymore.
Is this our future? If we keep going with out esculating technology perhaps. Think Bladerunner. The rich were able to get away. The rest got stuck in a decaying world.
One of the problems with science is we think more of the discovery than what will happen when ALL the ramifications of it come to play.
Our governments should spend more of our tax-dollars on something people seem to want. I'm for robotics that are owned by all of the citizens of a country. Lot's of people want to cheer every time a robot puts someone out of work. Fully automated robotics factories, with self replicating robotic arms. Highly automated renewable energy, windmills or underwater water mills. Highly automated steel production. Highly automated chip manufacturing, and Linux. I've seen some automated building manufacturing companies starting up as well. Other prerequisite products can eventually be manufactured as well. All source code and blueprints have to be fully owned with rights to an infinite amount of use. All owned by the citizens of the country concerned. Small factories at first, with all of the bugs worked out, so that it largely builds itself in the end. It should be affordable, I'm an economic conservative. Eventually the complex can produce consumer goods besides steel, energy, chips, buildings, and robotics. Charities and the open source community can help as well. I support liberal licensing agreements of source code and blueprints, to allow infinite replication without cost(one time fee models).
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hnsq
I am a computer programmer and I am busier than ever right now.
Maybe the attitude of 'Because obviously not everyone has what it takes to become scientists, doctors, or robotics programmers' as you put it is what is holding you back. Give me someone with an open mind and I can teach anyone how to program a computer. The decision to not learn anything new is the attitude of someone who is close minded and has no interest in learning anything new. There are 55 year old people in my office taking programming training classes and doing very well at it. You either adapt to the times or lose your job.
the world only needs so many computer programers, if all of a sudden millions of people start to take up computer programing your salary will plummet..
This is fear mongering; computers have been in use for decades.
Almost everything is computerized now.
People need to be retrained into viable jobs.
If there are no jobs, why do people keep reproducing?
Aren't they setting up their own demise?
Americans are actually not the ones reproducing, our birth rates stabilized some time back.
Our exploding population rates are all due to massive immigration both legal and illegal and their sky high birth rates. Most immigrants come from a country with a far lower unemployment rate than that of the US.
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A solution.
