You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
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You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
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Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#2This has already happened many times throughout history with industrialization and new technologies.
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#3This has already happened many times throughout history with industrialization and new technologies.
But now it's the cognitive function that's being automated. What is left for people to trade in exchange for their food? Until now, everyone had to offer his work, and work was tied to each person, couldn't be copied and replicated. But from now on, people will have nothing that can't be replaced by machines. Maybe a few will still have jobs, but most won't. Hopefully we will be able to spread soon enough the benefits of this revolution with everyone, and overcome this period of concentration of power in the hands of very few. But in the meantime, the generation of sacrifice will have to be helped to survive without jobs. Of course, if the transition would take 100-200 years, then there would be much less suffering in the intermediary phase, but that's unlikely to happen.
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#4This has already happened many times throughout history with industrialization and new technologies.
Those historical examples are about the automation of physical effort. The ability to automate tasks that require mental effort is fundamentally new to humanity.
For a better overview, see CGP Grey's explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#5This has already happened many times throughout history with industrialization and new technologies.
But now it's the cognitive function that's being automated. What is left for people to trade in exchange for their food? Until now, everyone had to offer his work, and work was tied to each person, couldn't be copied and replicated. But from now on, people will have nothing that can't be replaced by machines. Maybe a few will still have jobs, but most won't. Hopefully we will be able to spread soon enough the benefit…
"Futurologists have been multiplying like flies since the day Herman Kahn made Cassandra's profession "scientific," yet somehow not one of them has come out with the clear statement that we have wholly abandoned ourselves to the mercy of technological progress. The roles are now reversed: humanity becomes, for technology, a means, an instrument for achieving a goal unknown and unknowable."---Stanisław Lem
Power has always been concentrated in the hands of the few. What we see is that power is being moved from the hands of a human elite to a mob of machines. The loss of work is only a prelude to a loss of purpose.
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
But now it's the cognitive function that's being automated. What is left for people to trade in exchange for their food? Until now, everyone had to offer his work, and work was tied to each person, couldn't be copied and replicated. But from now on, people will have nothing that can't be replaced by machines. Maybe a few will still have jobs, but most won't. Hopefully we will be able to spread soon enough the benefit…
"Futurologists have been multiplying like flies since the day Herman Kahn made Cassandra's profession "scientific," yet somehow not one of them has come out with the clear statement that we have wholly abandoned ourselves to the mercy of technological progress. The roles are now reversed: humanity becomes, for technology, a means, an instrument for achieving a goal unknown and unknowable."---Stanisław Lem Power has a…
Would contemplation, laughter, love, bliss... count as purpose ?
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Futurologists have been multiplying like flies since the day Herman Kahn made Cassandra's profession "scientific," yet somehow not one of them has come out with the clear statement that we have wholly abandoned ourselves to the mercy of technological progress. The roles are now reversed: humanity becomes, for technology, a means, an instrument for achieving a goal unknown and unknowable."---Stanisław Lem Power has a…
Would contemplation, laughter, love, bliss... count as purpose ?
Why would those be purposes? A single person may want to contemplate, laugh, love, bliss, etc., but it's not a justification for his/her existence. And it would be remarkably egoistic and empty if I want to enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle.
For me, the purpose for humans is to serve other humans, to work. Which we are increasingly unable to do because it turns out that this 'work' can be more easily done by mechanical brutes that happen to be programmed by humans.
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#8[deleted]
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would contemplation, laughter, love, bliss... count as purpose ?
Why would those be purposes? A single person may want to contemplate, laugh, love, bliss, etc., but it's not a justification for his/her existence. And it would be remarkably egoistic and empty if I want to enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle. For me, the purpose for humans is to serve other humans, to work . Which we are increasingly unable to do because it turns out that this 'work' can be more easily done by mechanical b…
Oh, not necessarily egotistic, at all. Sharing and spreading knowledge and wisdom and calmness can be a noble purpose. Helping those in need is one form of true love.
Work will disappear for most of us. What will we do with our time?
Re: You Can’t Talk About Robots Without Talking About Basic Income
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would those be purposes? A single person may want to contemplate, laugh, love, bliss, etc., but it's not a justification for his/her existence. And it would be remarkably egoistic and empty if I want to enjoy a hedonistic lifestyle. For me, the purpose for humans is to serve other humans, to work . Which we are increasingly unable to do because it turns out that this 'work' can be more easily done by mechanical b…
Oh, not necessarily egotistic, at all. Sharing and spreading knowledge and wisdom and calmness can be a noble purpose. Helping those in need is one form of true love. Work will disappear for most of us. What will we do with our time?
I don't know. But I think that if we ever get to that point, then it would probably lead to a doomsday scenario of existential angst. Anything that happens after that...is really a boring footnote in the history of machinery's triumph over humanity.
Still, there's differing levels of dystopia. One where humans are still able to help each other is certainly better than most alternatives.