Robots stealing our jobs!

[Kuciwalker]

So?

Everyone has his or her chance to be young.

[Dr Strangelove]

Hey geniuses! What are we going to do about getting enough energy for this brave new world and the resulting pollution?

So eventually we really will have "Flesh Faires"? Does anyone have a special preferrence of a manner with which to torture and destroy robots?

[DanS]

Consider that in many ways, the manufacture of goods is already "limitless." In the US, we have already entered a post-industrial era where only about 13% of the economy is devoted to manufacturing. Other countries are experiencing similar trends, albeit they are a little later starting the whole game.

People find good jobs nowadays doing service-oriented work. My work will be too complex for a robot to handle for a couple hundred years or so. And I only have a bachelor's degree.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
Hey geniuses! What are we going to do about getting enough energy for this brave new world and the resulting pollution?

So eventually we really will have "Flesh Faires"? Does anyone have a special preferrence of a manner with which to torture and destroy robots?

Well with an unlimited robotic labor pool I suppose we could get arbitrarily large pollution free energy from massive space based solar collection until fusion power could be perfected by super AI physicists and engineers.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by DanS
Consider that in many ways, the manufacture of goods is already "limitless." In the US, we have already entered a post-industrial era where only about 13% of the economy is devoted to manufacturing. Other countries are experiencing similar trends, albeit they are a little later starting the whole game.

People find good jobs nowadays doing service-oriented work. My work will be too complex for a robot to handle for a couple hundred years or so. And I only have a bachelor's degree.

couple hundred years? how on earth did you calculate that? you can't judge by the past rate of progress because super intelligent ai development can progress with a positive feedback effect. More powerful information processing techs and engineering aids can facilitate ever faster progress towards truly powerful human replacing AI's. It's hard to say how long it might take for the process to take off exponentially. A couple hundred years seems really really conservative.

A human brain is only so big and so fast and only has so many possible interconnections. Beating it's performance with an AI isn't like trying to build wormholes or aiming for other speculative sci fi capabilites. It's doable with the physics and materials we have here and now.

[:) Smiley]

The problem of old people learning slower likely has a technological solution closely related to the development of artificial intelligence anyway.

I guess we would all still go to "work" but we'd just post on Poly all day.

[JohnT]

I guess we would all still go to "work" but we'd just post on Poly all day.

And how is that different from today's world?

[:) Smiley]

Exactly. Only difference now, all those people who have to do actual labor these days can join us.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Smiley
Exactly. Only difference now, all those people who have to do actual labor these days can join us.

But if the employer can convince himself that cheaper means of doing our 'work' (which we weren't actually doing) are available why would they want to hire us in the first place?

[:) Smiley]

Everyone would be self-employed.

[DaShi]

We could all hunt cbeasts for a living.

[Drachasor]

Well, we are never going to have infinite production, so the idea that there will be infinite charity is flawed.

However, humans are going to change as technology develops too. People will get body and mind enhancements and generally there will be a merging of man and machine as time goes on. There will probably be some bumps in the road and capitalism might be found to be lacking in the future too. Afterall, if A.I. is cheap then you can afford to have intelligent machines working on the problem of resource distribution from an efficiency standpoint. Certainly there will be a growing backlash against the disparity between the rich and poor, even in America.

If production becomes very, very cheap and automated, then invention will be the primary innovation. This is just like developing software, and as with software open source strategies will end up dominating in the long run (and this is happening today, slowly but surely). Once you have this, capitalism doesn't have a great deal of point. A.I. will end up handling most service jobs better, as making an A.I. that enjoys doing the job and does a much better job 100% of the time than a human will become possible.

However, a dystopia is not likely. The change will be slow and gradual and democracy is not conductive to a dystopia, generally speaking. Some sort of socialism or capitalism is likely, with people working on ideas and projects open-source style because they want to. There will probably be a huge upsurge in all the arts and other mental activities, and the advances in mental enhancement will simply aid this.

-Drachasor

[Kuciwalker]

There would be no point to a dystopia. There'd be no use in keeping the masses ignorant and poor.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
There would be no point to a dystopia. There'd be no use in keeping the masses ignorant and poor.

Yes there is:
If the population is too busy craving for survival, and if it is too ignorant to become interested in politics, the leader is more likely to keep his throne. Revolutions are initiated by educated bourgeois, and the poor and uneducated are only there to do the grunt job.

[DanS]

I don't see any trend toward people becoming uneducated or poor, however. Quite the opposite. If the ruling classes have a plan to keep the people down, they're doing a piss poor job of executing their plan.