When automation displaces all human labor (no serious person can deny this is coming) we will be faced with a critical problem concerning how to distribute resources. Presently we have a three legged stool. Labor, Industry, and finance create a cycle. People exchange their labor for wages and then buy goods from the factories. Factories obtain loans from Finance and then pay them back when laborers buy their goods. And round and round it goes. Remove labor and the two legged stool will fall. Guaranteed Basic Income is one idea being toyed with. Public works, another. No matter what your present ideology may be with regard to capitalism vs. Socialism, they are both about to come under incredible pressure as the technological revolution matures. I do not claim to be clairvoyant with some easy answer. We are about to enter some very challenging times. Exciting to say the least. Good luck everybody.
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We are not removing labour. We are automating it, there is no problem, it's easy, people print their own value, just as what is going on here, it works, there will also be no need to buy anything when everything goes to 0 cost. Work is no longer needed for humans, they will be on a holiday instead, they already are in many cases. We are entering some very easy times actually, it's just that people have to update their paradigm that they are living in
When I said "remove labor" it was in the context of my earlier comment concerning "human labor." Yes we are automating labor and that means removing "human labor" from the equation. The current system is dependent on human labor as a component. Remove human labor and this system becomes unsustainable in its present form. I wrote a book titled "Pardon the Disruption. The Future You Never Saw Coming" where several chapters deal with this very topic, in detail. (Still available on Amazon.) I agree with you that we are moving to 0 cost and I agree people need to update their paradigm (hence my comment that existing conflict between capitalism vs. Socialism will become irrelevant). What I do not find persuasive is a sweeping assertion that it will be easy. The level of uncertainty and turmoil we are witnessing all around us, in the current world condition, tells me it will be anything but easy. When the age of reason showed up during the Renaissance, it was not met with a celebration (which it should have), but rather jailing of intellectuals and the Inquisitions conducted in many European nations with witch burning, etc. While our technology has advance exponentially, our social and political institutions have not. They move like a glacier by comparison. My book’s epilogue quote:
"Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. We have created Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and to the rest of life."
-Edward Osborn Wilson
Thanks for a reply! Speed of change will be interesting to see
I just looked at your site. You and I have a lot in common. We have many of the same interests in technology and where we are going as a society. We agree way more than we disagree. I will be publishing my book for free on Steemit when I hit 1,000 followers. 56 to go. I am now following your site and look forward to your future entries.