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Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

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Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#471

Post by [deleted] »

lqet wrote: post #399
dominicrose wrote: post #320

It is frustrating to not be able to predict the future. How can you get married, have children, get a 25 year mortgage on a house, buy a car for comfort even though you don't absolutely need it? Even if you do consider buying a home, how do you know it's worth anything if you can't predict this particular place's future situation? Some countries tax enough to make the risk of buying quite high. A leap of faith is req…

Yes, predicting the future was never possible. In fact, for most of the time in human history, the future looked incredibly bleak. Yet I am immensely grateful that my ancestors chose to build homes and marry and have children and live life through the great plague, through middle ages in which most of the population expected the apocalypse to be just around the corner, the 30 years war with up to 70% of the populatio…

[deleted]

Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#472

Post by otikik »

doctorwho42 wrote: post #426
otikik wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, imagine being able to actually predict the future. It would suck. There would always be an optimal choice all of the time. You would be a slave to your prescience. The only way free will is possible is that we are oblivious to the future. Good luck with your choices, and your life!

Sooooo... We are doomed because we can predict the sun will rise tomorrow? We are doomed because we can predict the weather 7-10 days out with reasonable accuracy? We are doomed because we can predict the climate change based on models? We are doomed because with our knowledge of physics we can predict the outcome of many events?

/r/woosh/

Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#474

Post by phailhaus »

randusername wrote: post #469

Nobody wants to live in a mining economy. Human slavery, extraordinary taxes, no public infrastructure. Conceivably you only need two roads total: one from the palace to the airport and another from the mine to the docks. Any more and someone might try to build a school. It seems to me that human quality of life is really tightly coupled to economic systems where there is a high ROI in investing in the public. This i…

This is why I get worried about the hatred for income taxes. No, you want the government to want you to be richer. If all they raised was property taxes, then they don't care if you get priced out of your home, as long as someone's buying.

Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#475

Post by Ygg2 »

tartoran wrote: post #473

People may be excluded from the main capital/robot/AI economy, but they still need to eat, shelter themselves, and trade with one another. That produces an economy, even if it is informal or black-market.

So basically rich people trade amongst themselves while the masses live in squalor? That sounds as either a concept for cyberpunk book or a revolution.

Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#476

Post by otikik »

phailhaus wrote: post #474
randusername wrote: post #469

Nobody wants to live in a mining economy. Human slavery, extraordinary taxes, no public infrastructure. Conceivably you only need two roads total: one from the palace to the airport and another from the mine to the docks. Any more and someone might try to build a school. It seems to me that human quality of life is really tightly coupled to economic systems where there is a high ROI in investing in the public. This i…

This is why I get worried about the hatred for income taxes. No, you want the government to want you to be richer. If all they raised was property taxes, then they don't care if you get priced out of your home, as long as someone's buying.

There's no hate for income taxes. There's hate about income taxes not accompanied with wealth taxes.

Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#478

Post by flextheruler »

Ma8ee wrote: post #282
jameslk wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not true at all. If I could work two days a week for 40% of my current income I would take the opportunity in a heartbeat Most people wouldn’t be content to live in one room huts with thatched roofs and no hospitals or antibiotics. There might be some that do, but most prefer having more things and “better” lives. If we kept progressing, we’d look back at the era we live today and consider it just as primitive

If you instead imagine the perspective of anyone from 16th century, you’d realise we are already living as kings. We have way more food and clothes than we can eat and use, we have self driving carriages, magic devices with entertainment in our pockets, not to mention that almost all our kids live to adulthood. At what point do we say that we don’t need to waste more of earth’s resources and instead find time to enjo…

The argument that commoners now live better than historical kings because we possess better technology is reductive if by living better you mean life satisfaction. Happiness is relative. Most people compare themselves to their peers. This is borne out by a multitude of studies one being that upper middle class people are unhappier living in upper class neighborhoods than in middle class neighborhoods despite the richer neighborhood having lower crime, better services, etc.

There will never be a point that society at large will decline to exploit resources when there is competition for those resources. It's easy to see why on average this behavior is common from an evolutionary perspective.

Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#479

Post by organsnyder »

bluGill wrote: post #461
organsnyder wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the United States, healthcare is a major factor, especially if you have a family.

Health care is a major factor for any modern society. A society may allow a few members to opt-out, but only because someone else is taking their share of the cost. Sure health care is expensive in the US, but it isn't much cheaper elsewhere (it is cheaper, but not by that much)

In most of the world, healthcare isn't tied to your employment. In the United States, healthcare access for working-age people is practically inaccessible* without a full-time job.

* Yes, Medicaid exists, but finding providers that accept it can be difficult, and dealing with the bureaucracy to obtain/keep coverage is daunting.

Re: Peopleless economy? Not technically impossible

#480

Post by apetrov »

otikik wrote: post #476
phailhaus wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I get worried about the hatred for income taxes. No, you want the government to want you to be richer. If all they raised was property taxes, then they don't care if you get priced out of your home, as long as someone's buying.

There's no hate for income taxes. There's hate about income taxes not accompanied with wealth taxes.

surely there is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_as_theft
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