From: mwaser@cox.net
Date: Fri Apr 18 2008 - 08:17:13 MDT
> How is it that wild tech advances leave people
> working harder and for less pay? Because the
> extra value is being siphoned off for the
> employers. The logical end, as Bill Joy pointed
> out, is that the boss gets what he wants from the
> machines and the rest of humanity is expendable.
True, but it's not a foregone conclusion. Hopefully you've read Manna by Marshall Brain (http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm). Anyone who hasn't on this list needs to go do so immediately.
> For a different idea on what to do, Robert Anton
> Wilson's 1979 novel _The Homing Pigeons_ (book 3
> of _Schrodinger's Cat_) proposes something called
> the R.I.C.H. economy: Rising Income through
> Cybernetic Homeostasis. Basically, guaranteed
> good pay for those replaced by a machine, and a
> good bounty for inventing yourself out of a job.
> He anticipated many, many things discussed here.
I think I've read that -- many years ago. I should go see if it is on my bookshelf and pull it off and re-read it. Thank you for the reference.
> Having said that, this is the sort of debate that
> becomes utterly moot with FAI.
I'm not so sanguine about that. There is still likely to be a transition period that may not be all roses (particularly if you believe in a slow/soft take-off).
Mark
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