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It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

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Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#101

Post by bryanrasmussen »

robbrown451 wrote: post #8

I am unclear as to the author's intent. I expect most people here would find such ideas offensive. And yet so many things seem on the right track. It's the polar opposite of the outrageously inefficient model where everything you use, you own, and for 99.9% of the time, the thing just sits there depreciating or taking up space. Regarding cars, as a city liver who needs a car (but has no driveway or garage), I certain…

>Obviously some things are going to be bothersome, such as the idea of people holding business meetings in your living room when you are away.

and also stupid, since the needs of a business meeting are rather different than the needs of a living room, and living rooms must service all sorts of people and families.

And finally families own stuff because kids need and want stuff, you're not going to have your kids favorite doll delivered when they want to play with it.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#102

Post by zelphirkalt »

chmod775 wrote: post #95
zelphirkalt wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in Europe and I do not see anything close to what the author is describing. Nothing is really at no cost. It is paid for with tax money or directly. The author is not specifying "for those who could not otherwise afford it", but describing it as at no cost for everyone. Most universities cost money to enrole and attend. Does your baker give out buns at no cost? Is the grocery store giving away all the food at no…

> Nothing is really at no cost. It is paid for with tax money or directly. > The author is not specifying "for those who could not otherwise afford it", but describing it as at no cost for everyone. The author never specified whether or how things are paid for, but for me personally I am assuming tax money. He also leaves open whether luxury goods/foods are still paid for. > Show me that country or even that city ple…

I see. OK seems I interpret the text differently. Not sure my interpretation is necessarily a wrong reading.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#103

Post by bryanrasmussen »

throwaway316943 wrote: post #23
jpttsn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The very cynical counter argument is rarely spoken: Owning my things provides value even when I’m not using them, because I benefit from excluding other people (my competition) from using them. Example: The sports car locked in my garage helps keep sports cars away from other people, which maintains their benefit of conferring status. It provides utility even if I basically never drive it. This side of human nature i…

It’s not even just exclusion. Can you imagine the scheduling nightmare this would induce? Your personal life would be run minute to minute by your calendar. Any time you wanted to do anything it would either have to be booked in advance or you’d have to wait for delivery. This article seems to be written from the perspective of someone who likes spending their time in coffee shops and riding their bike around in circ…

>Any time you wanted to do anything it would either have to be booked in advance or you’d have to wait for delivery.

oh my special personality defects will probably mean I won't ever be able to go anywhere, do anything, and will eventually starve to death under this system.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#105

Post by cjwebb »

ragnese wrote: post #53
kyrers wrote: post #12

I don't understand this. As said in other comments, I believe most people wouldn't want most of the things the author describes. If I want to cook at home and have to order everything, I assume it won't just be there in 5 minutes. And then what? If everything is shared does someone come pick it up when someone else needs it? Do I take it somewhere? Also, are people delivering these things? Or robots? And how can this…

The article is definitely not the "best" version of this vision of the future I've read... Not that I'm advocating for this future in any way, but I assume that a more realistic version of this (especially for as near as 2030) is that many people still have jobs that have an actual schedule. Maybe we can be optimistic and dream that people get to work less than 40 hours a week to have a reasonable quality of life. Bu…

You could rent clothes for a day...

Wake up. Clothes have been delivered overnight. Put them on, wear for the day. At the end of the day, put them in a box outside wherever you're staying the night.

That seems like a feasible thing to build today, if you ignored all the current consequences of fast-fashion.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#106

Post by vulcan01 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #68
tim333 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We went through a comparable transition from most people working in agriculture and farming to that being automated away and people doing stuff that hadn't been much worried about before. Given human nature hasn't changed I imagine it will be similar.

And then again during the industrial revolution and consequent automation, where the work previously done by 10 people is now done by 1. It's cyclical, and while I will concede that people lose their jobs because of automation, zooming out to the overall jobs market (and figures, which probably don't tell the whole story) things haven't really changed much. On an individual level though, people lose their jobs and li…

> if everyone has a baseline income, nobody does

I believe the argument for UBI is based on economic utility: $1000 a month is worth more to a poor person than a rich person.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#107

Post by TT3351 »

me_me_me wrote: post #90
cryptica wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to think that Brave New World is looking better than where we're actually headed. In BNW, the Alpha and Beta classes are chosen based on objectively desirable characteristics. Where we're heading, our top castes will comprise mostly of people who are manipulative, short-term thinkers, vengeful, insecure, arrogant and psychopathic. Not great for society.

BNW world is designed to be pure meritocracy. It really does make you think about their world at the end. And its not really evil oppressive world like 1984. Its just purely mechanical construction that to us look like dystopia. I agree we are and are heading is technological aristocracy where tech is used to keep people in line. Divided over crazy theories, societal issues and squabbling over leftovers. Just give th…

Meritocracy set out from birth, no? Are not all people in that book test tube children with specific selected genomes? I fail to see how creating a class of genetic garbage men, relegated to working with trash for their entire lives is "meritocratic," since advocates of the meritocracy concept generally rely on the system's alleged mobility.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#108

Post by awb »

LandR wrote: post #3

This reads like a description of a pretty awful dystopia. Or at least one where everything might seem great, until it isn't. And when it turns, turning it back is HARD / near impossible. Do people read this and think that is the sort of life they would want in the future?

> Author's note: Some people have read this blog as my utopia or dream of the future. It is not. It is a scenario showing where we could be heading - for better and for worse. I wrote this piece to start a discussion about some of the pros and cons of the current technological development. When we are dealing with the future, it is not enough to work with reports. We should start discussions in many new ways. This is the intention with this piece.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#109

Post by awb »

robbrown451 wrote: post #8

I am unclear as to the author's intent. I expect most people here would find such ideas offensive. And yet so many things seem on the right track. It's the polar opposite of the outrageously inefficient model where everything you use, you own, and for 99.9% of the time, the thing just sits there depreciating or taking up space. Regarding cars, as a city liver who needs a car (but has no driveway or garage), I certain…

> Author's note: Some people have read this blog as my utopia or dream of the future. It is not. It is a scenario showing where we could be heading - for better and for worse. I wrote this piece to start a discussion about some of the pros and cons of the current technological development. When we are dealing with the future, it is not enough to work with reports. We should start discussions in many new ways. This is the intention with this piece.

Re: It's 2030. I own nothing, have no privacy, and life has never been better (2016)

#110

Post by ForHackernews »

me_me_me wrote: post #90
cryptica wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to think that Brave New World is looking better than where we're actually headed. In BNW, the Alpha and Beta classes are chosen based on objectively desirable characteristics. Where we're heading, our top castes will comprise mostly of people who are manipulative, short-term thinkers, vengeful, insecure, arrogant and psychopathic. Not great for society.

BNW world is designed to be pure meritocracy. It really does make you think about their world at the end. And its not really evil oppressive world like 1984. Its just purely mechanical construction that to us look like dystopia. I agree we are and are heading is technological aristocracy where tech is used to keep people in line. Divided over crazy theories, societal issues and squabbling over leftovers. Just give th…

In Brave New World, it's only a meritocracy because they've engineered human embryos to produce the different castes. In the novel, they deliberately induce fetal alcohol syndrome to stunt the intelligence of the lower classes.

The modern reformulation would be genetic engineering or at least genetic screening. I'm sure we're not that far away from the wealthy classes testing their embryos and only implanting the ones that have the highest intelligence, least propensity for disease, etc.

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