The animated graphic from NPR shows how the economy has changed over time. Interesting how jobs have shifted from production to services and distribution. "Peak Secretary" seems to have occurred in the mid 80's.
For all of human history before the present, the problem has been too much work and not enough people to do it. And the work has been true life-or-death stuff...people to be out in the fields taking care of the crops, people building shelter against otherwise-fatal weather, people gathering firewood to cook the food and keep those in the shelter from dying of hypothermia, that sort of thing.
But today we've got the opposite problem: too many people and not enough work for them to do.
Once upon a time it made sense that, if you wanted to eat, you needed money; and, if you wanted money to buy food, you needed to work.
But today that's already a big problem, and it's only getting worse at an exponential rate.
Not only do we not need people to be doing these jobs, we don't wan't people doing these jobs. But, no jobs means no money, and no money means no food, and no food means death.
So, either we start using starvation to kill off hundreds of millions or even billions of people until we've only got exactly enough people to do what little work there is that needs to be done...or we break the other half of the chain, too. You're welcome to have money to pay for your food and shelter and the rest...and, since we've got this army of robots doing all the work for you, we're not going to make you do the work the robots are already doing before we give you that money.
That's actually what we're already doing, of course. It's just that the 0.01% are getting all the money that the robots are earning. Why should the 0.01% enjoy all the fruits of the robot labor while everybody else starves?
And truck drivers of all kinds are a demographic that is very likely to own firearms, and usually more than one. So giving them the middle finger would hasten the revolution.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 06 2015, @03:17PM
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" Is that what you are saying?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TrumpetPower! on Friday November 06 2015, @04:17PM
Huh? Where'd you get that from?
For all of human history before the present, the problem has been too much work and not enough people to do it. And the work has been true life-or-death stuff...people to be out in the fields taking care of the crops, people building shelter against otherwise-fatal weather, people gathering firewood to cook the food and keep those in the shelter from dying of hypothermia, that sort of thing.
But today we've got the opposite problem: too many people and not enough work for them to do.
Once upon a time it made sense that, if you wanted to eat, you needed money; and, if you wanted money to buy food, you needed to work.
But today that's already a big problem, and it's only getting worse at an exponential rate.
Not only do we not need people to be doing these jobs, we don't wan't people doing these jobs. But, no jobs means no money, and no money means no food, and no food means death.
So, either we start using starvation to kill off hundreds of millions or even billions of people until we've only got exactly enough people to do what little work there is that needs to be done...or we break the other half of the chain, too. You're welcome to have money to pay for your food and shelter and the rest...and, since we've got this army of robots doing all the work for you, we're not going to make you do the work the robots are already doing before we give you that money.
That's actually what we're already doing, of course. It's just that the 0.01% are getting all the money that the robots are earning. Why should the 0.01% enjoy all the fruits of the robot labor while everybody else starves?
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 2) by computersareevil on Wednesday November 11 2015, @05:47PM
And truck drivers of all kinds are a demographic that is very likely to own firearms, and usually more than one.
So giving them the middle finger would hasten the revolution.
(Score: 3, Informative) by hemocyanin on Friday November 06 2015, @04:18PM
I think he's saying that if you want to avoid the guillotine, you have to be realistic. Not every person is just going to shut up and starve.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:35AM
That's why the guns need to be taken away.