This post is observational and circumstantial and based purely upon my own experiences and thoughts.
I think it is safe to say that even though we are more connected than ever before, division in this world is reaching an all time high. People are becoming more polarized and much less emotionally balanced than they have been previously. Skill levels are dropping while consumption of entertainment and avoidance activities are increasing. I don't see this as a natural progression, I see it as an engineering of society to create gaps between groups for various reasons.
We as a global society have access to the best and most complete set of information at any time in the known history of our species yet, we are struggling with problems that divide us. These are further pushed forward by groups who on the surface have the look of being well-intentioned but, fail almost entirely except in their ramping up of conflict and division.
Dividing the globe
Some work under the guise of equality while practicing some of the worst forms of prejudice imaginable. To raise the standards of their preferred groups, they crush the positions of what they class as enemies and anyone that gets in their way, gets shouted down, vilified in social media, ridiculed. Their method to gain freedom is to enslave others or, steamroll them.
There are many such groups, they appear on the left and the right and, they are spreading ever outward to the extremes. This process continually fractures and fragments groups into smaller and smaller niches with each believing that they have the right to ramp up their own activities to promote their narrow-views.
Violence rules, Discourse is dead.
Love yourself as you are
For the last however many decades we have had the idea of 'accept yourself as you are' and this has been pushed in a thousand different ways. The easiest to see is likely the idea of fat where people are continually made to feel okay about getting increasingly larger. There is nothing wrong with accepting yourself but, at what cost?
I see the continual focus on staying the same a way to continue people being controlled, keep them consuming, even if it isn't in their best interest. Everyone makes their own decisions in this life but, we are all nudged by our environment and the environment that contains us is leaning more and more toward weakness, not strength.
Are you not entertained?
This is the same for the entertainment generation, those who have been bred to be consumers of other's creations. This is the attention economy and what gets attended to is the easy to eat, the sugar, the pleasure, the high-calorie, low-quality, easy to chew fast food content that adds no value to the individual other than, killing time.
Wasting time is the order of this society now as to actually o something takes investment, effort, learning and, the ability to delay gratification. The immediate desires and the ways to fill them are so compelling that very few are able to deny themselves and, it is a slippery slope. No one gets fat overnight, it is a slow process of consumption and inattention until the hurdle of change seems insurmountable.
The consumer class
Once on the wrong side of that mountain, it requires a Herculean effort to overcome not only because of the effort to do but, the effort to not do what is so attractively packaged and marketed. The more in the consumer class, the higher the profits, like milk producing cows, cash cows.
People will make claims of all in moderation but very few have the ability to moderate because, it was never introduced as a mechanism or developed to be strong enough to withstand the draw of the products and platforms, TV shows, games and movies who have teams of behavioural psychologists armed with reams of testing and data to manipulate us into buying. We have been taught to think we are smarter than them, stronger than them but, here we are, controlled by them. Who did the teaching?
There are benefits for some
As products of our environment we are largely at the mercy of our surroundings and when we are surrounded by consumables, we are programmed to consume. We are played off against each other and will always look to have more, not be more. I am not talking about promotions and fame when I talk of be, they are things granted, given, provided by others. I am talking about the improvement of the self which requires, attention, support, time, investment. All of the things that are given to things that are provided to us but are meaningless to building the self.
There are enormous amounts of value to be made in creating consumers and keeping them there but, it is only available to a very narrow subset of the population because, to benefit from the masses, one can't be part of the mass. It isn't thinking outside of the box, it is living outside of the controlled.
But why not build an environment for freedom?
There is not a great deal of money to be made in freedom because once people are truly free, they will no longer purchase the useless, the valueless, the cheap to produce, high-margin products that will be bought, consumed, thrown away and replaced by the next version. Free people don't need much and, they don't need to replace as often. Turnover is a state of consumption.
The dumbing down of society
We, despite our access, are getting stupider as more and more people supplement their abilities with competitive cognitive artefacts that will eventually replace their skills altogther and, inhibit them, retard them from learning more. Skill levels are falling while consumption keeps climbing. We are put in a race to collect useless and the cost of what matters.
People don't seem to be paying attention to where this leads as the workless wealth world of selling attention real estate, pushes people at an increasing rate to be more and more unemployable.
How many can apply for the job?
And this is where it will lead as automation, AI, driverless cars, drone deliveries and all types of robotic services keep pushing into industries populated by people who are becoming less skilled and who have no hope of changing industry. Ther are about 8.7 million people employed in the trucking industry in the US alone. What will they do once automated driving takes over in the coming years, how many can re-skill? How many base level coders will beat the AIs, how many service positions will be replaced by a robot?
It is because of this that I see as a large factor in the miseducation of our world because rather than solve the problem of improving quality of life, they can lower it across the board and make certain that very few people qualify for the very few jobs that will still exist.
But in the meantime
Universal Basic Income will likely be the stop-gap measure taken to provide a basic existence for many people so that they can keep living and consuming. They can pay their rent, buy cheap food, a game for their console every now and again. They will be able to survive but, they aren't likely to have access to the all elusive meaning of life. Cattle.
Those who are employable however will be able to benefit from the cattle-class of society, they will be able to rent them properties or, sell them a skill that they require but are no longer able to perform themselves. Many of this subset will live lives of relative plenty because they will be able to provide service and product that is not possible to be automated. At least for a time.
As I see it
There are gaps forming, massive, massive gaps. They are going to cover skillsets, education, economic opportunity, health, mental stability, emotional control and many other factors that require investment to possess. There are going to be the haves and the have nots with a small group with the potential to move and act.
It has been happening for decades and the mountains are growing with fewer and fewer people standing in positions that will raise them up. Most do not seem to see the mountains as they grow as they are too busy looking at their phone, playing a game, watching TV and it won't be until they are in the darkness of the looming shadows that they will look up and find themselves, in a deep hole with no rope.
Trapped
But, they will be provided for, they will be thrown the scraps of life as they return what they are given in buckets back up to the top of the mountain. They will have enough to be entertained but not enough to climb out. There are people living this subsistence lifestyle now and the group size is going to grow quickly.
It doesn't have to be this way
No, it doesn't have to be this way at all but, it will likely get much like this in the coming decades although, the ones who are in the controlling group are unlikely to see it as they are continually protected from its view. Those who are in the consumer class will be continually protected through availability of information and the subsequent ignorance from not getting enough. Curated content, censorship and algorithms to feed pleasure will lead the way to produce more Unaware.
Automation and AI could be the force that frees up human potential from the mundane existence and scarcity so many suffer from but, to do so it can't be left in the hands of the current authority because, they are creatures of habit. And, their habit is to maximize their wealth no matter the cost to those who are not them. Every war ever held is from the position of maximizing the position of one side with the other side defending against a maximizing force.
Right now, the war is for our attention, our data, our privacy our voice and, they are doing a brilliant job of driving their attack through our defenses without necessarily even firing a shot. All they need to do is, make us complacent, uncaring, preoccupied and entertained.
And then, when the light does shine our way we will say;
"There is nothing I can do about it."
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
If men lived according to virtue and reason, 95% of modern economy will ground to halt. If the muck were emotionally stable, self-controlled, and rational, how many will purchase your consultation services?
The only science of this degenerate times is that of discontent, the only economy that of envy, and the only sociopolitical activity that of petulance. In a more elegant time, these base impulses of the muck were properly channeled towards somewhat productive avenues by those in power. In modern leaderless world, the muck and their beastly tendencies "govern" society.
My goal as a consultant is to make myself unemployed although, it isn't likely to happen in my lifetime it seems.
Appeal to the lowest common denominator and win.
This does not shield you from criticism my friend 😅
In fact, people are more skilled than they have ever been. That however does not mean that people are broadly skilled. That is, that they can tough it out without the network of resources we have built up in the last couple of hundred years.
Nor would we want it that way really. It's very satisfying to be able to rough it, but it is not efficient. It is good for the soul to learn that stuff, but a bad use of energy to do what you don't have to do, especially regarding the basics.
People are also much smarter than they were in the past, and that's set to modestly increase. My own casual research in the past while has indicated that that can mostly be attributed to improved nutrition globally. This is one of my bugbears. "Sheeple" and related concepts are so unhelpful. We can be mislead but you'll find (if you look) that more an more people are thinking, actually thinking. Do not shrink away into fatalistic notions.
Very similar point to the @hansikhouse post I just commented on.
Could it not be that the mechanism by which the consumerist drive you speak of operates is a lack of, or a controlling of imagination? Isn't that what keeps the sick person sick?
The extreme fat question is complicated, but I agree with you in that it a product of unfettered consumption (if you agree with my paraphrasing). Literally consumption of course, but also that of bad quality food, paired with our sedentary lifestyles. However some people are just fat. Where were always going to be fat, except in the case of malnutrition. We need to keep that in mind.
But here's where I really do agree with you: we are exploited by others. You can call this "farming" if you want to be dramatic, but the point stands. However we can still be exploited if we are smart, that's the thing you're not appreciating. Being smart and having the wrong information is arguably worse, because smart people are that little bit more arrogant (ahem).
That's one of the reasons why Steem is so important as a flagship anti-censorship platform. Sure we have flags and so on, but it is essentially censorship-free. It's only by real information that the smart can become useful to themselves and others. That is the real light which needs to shine, if I am to be dramatic, that is the light.
I am not too sure about that. I am witnessing kids getting degrees (as it is now easy to get a degree and everyone thinks one needs a degree) but barely understanding what they are doing. On the other hand, jobs that are needed are open. No one to take them. This is my gut feeling of the situation in France. I have no clue how general this is, but I won't be surprized this goes well beyond just a single country.
While your observations are interesting, it wouldn't be wise to base an opinion on anecdotal evidence, no matter how compelling, or gut feelings. I think they are useful, perhaps more useful than many rationalists think, but not directly, only as a kind of radar of where to look. So let's look.
Enlightenment Now is a book recently authored by Stephen Pinker. In it he makes the case that things are better than people think, including among other things how smart we are.
This chart is from an article on the book. Now I don't think this proves much, but it's an indication. There are lots of other indications we can find.
I'm sure @tarazkp might start disputing the measurements and so on but really the evidence is there, by any standard we are not getting stupider. As I said, smartness may not actually be serving us though, and that's perhaps the better area too look at.
I disagree with the fact that what I say is "just an anecdote". This is something I have seen in my own university and that colleagues have seen in their own universities too. Moreover, there is about 10% of unemployment in France (I however actually don't know how many of these unemployed people have a university degree).
Let me just finally also insist that I was not thinking about "literate people" but "people with a university degree (or similar)". Mmmh actually I didn't mention it but this is what I was thinking about :)
I didn't say it was "just an anecdote", I said it was "anecdotal evidence", which Wikipedia defines as
In formal studies researches are required to go to some lengths to remove any personal bias from the process, at least if they are researching scientifically. I'm sure your observations are relevant but the knowledge is not transferrable to me because I cannot trust it's validity. If there is 10% unemployment in France then that is a fact, unrelated entirely to your observations.
In my opinion if you cannot recognize your observations may be biased then you are not practicing a level of skepticism and humility necessary for genuine inquiry.
I agree there is no evidence backing up my claim. Just some gut feeling coming from discussions with many people and my own observations.
But please note that I had never the intention to sell this as a scientific claim or evidence of what so ever. I made it clear from the start.
Understood. I'm also just making clear that I can't accept it.
I wouldn't dispute the measurement, I would dispute the relevance. Learning a skill and using it well are two different things. Give two individuals the same resources and they will use them differently. I could be wrong but I would suggest that if someone like Da vinci had a pool of resource as deep as the internet, he wouldn't be playing Farmville. Smart doesn't translate to intelligence.
Yes, food/hygiene (maybe too) are large factors in our capacity growth but it is also possible that we have reached a point that if we aren't careful, the environmental changes and substances we have created could push us backwards. If we look at the increase in opioid abuse and death in middle class america, it is a pretty good indicator that we aren't 'healthy' even though healthier than before in other areas. Depression is on the rise for a reason and it isn't because we are smarter.
The dumbing down I talk about isn't about brain capabilities, it is about cultural restriction (as you mentioned).
It's a pity you didn't say that then.
But points well taken. There are a lot of opportunities today, they should be used and we should support those things which relieve and cure illness, that promote health in all it's factors and, yes I'm going to say it ... freedom.
If I have to spell everything out, how are you ever expected to learn? :D
I hope you screamed it with half your face pointed blue :)
It is similar in Finland too where the education is supposedly 'brilliant' yet, for the most part, they are unable to apply it to create something new (on average). We see a lot of innovation in the world and believe it to be the norm but, we live in a world of cherry-picked information with mass exposure.
I would suggest that take out the publicity and we would soon discover we are much more average than we believe. Much like if we took away the news cherry picking the most violent crimes from around the globe, the world will seem a lot more safe than we are led to believe.
This is true. The point is however that we're smarter on average than we were 100 years ago. Go ahead, prove me wrong.
As we by essence know more, this sounds very logical.
damn.
It is like only having a hammer, only useful in some circumstances. We are narrow and the skills we have are likely easily programmable (future) for a narrow AI to do.
How fast are we going to evolve? I would suggest, not fast enough.
Indeed. People are highly unimaginiative and becoming less imaginiative as the global view and popular products, shows, fashions, culture etc gets spread equally to all. Equality might be reached eventually, as we will all think identically.
Where were they 12,000 years ago before farming? How many of the Australian aboriginals (no farming - not malnourished) were fat? it has become a genetic disorder through poor nutrition (too much carb) that is now transferrable to the next generation and exacerbated by the fact that body types tend to cluster for relationships.
I can agree with this yet, (to defend my position) real information is also the information that comes from alternative possibilities through imagination. For every correct thought, how many incorrect did it take to reach that point? The problem I see is that people work under the assumption that it'll all work out and become complacent and leave the details up to others. Introduce alternate theories and possibilities (even incorrect ones [unlike mine]) and there is more food for thought to build a better, more informed path forward.
Read them fairytales.
It's never easy taking you to task, I should have known better 😇
Regarding skill, the fact remains that your statement is incorrect (people are less skilled) and requires qualification if you mean "less broadly skilled" or "less usefully skilled". The implication as it stands is that people are stupider, which is also not true.
We are and have always been "programmed". There's a less biased word for it too, it's called culture. It's the reason why someone will commit suicide for shame. Not only that, but as long as there are guardians of culture (which there mostly has been everywhere for thousands of years) these are systems of control. This control can be a good thing (stopping people from killing each other too much over disputes for example) and a bad thing (causing people to kill each other even more over disputes, lol). It is the kind of control which is internalized and makes up the very stuff of your mental world. We cannot do without it, even as we try to escape it.
I would argue it's not the programming itself that is the problem, that is, we can't remove culture. I would say however that improving the culture is worth doing. The bad news is that culture has huge inertia, but the good news is that things do change. Again, information is key, and I agree with you that imagination and all of that can be information too.
Regarding the fat question, I really don't know enough about it. I know that people several hundreds of years ago who were farmers have been discovered to be what we might call "fat" today. It is also my recollection (we'd need to get some citations here) that hunter gatherers did not have an abundance of food and were often hungry in a way that we would find very difficult today. But I bow out to the information, whatever it is.
By the way I think this is one of your incorrect thoughts that may hopefully lead to a correct one 😉I can't remember what this kind of speculation is called, but in any case it is not supported by your previous statements.
I lost track of the chain. I am an idiot :D
😂
The most basic necessity for life to propagate unhindered both mentally and physically is freedom. I might not be properly able to put this in words but I think the idea of freedom is innate. It comes to us without being taught to us. A slave who was born into slavery and never saw the light of freedom would aspire for it without perhaps even being able to vocalize his thoughts. I find this weird that idea of freedom and associated concepts are fed to us in ways that are misleading.
The sad truth is that not everybody is born equal but the best thing is that human spirit aspires to be able to prove itself. Instead of letting us find our way to opportunities we deserve, the competition is subsidized in favor of 'civilized behavior' .The truth is that providing equal opportunities is far too expensive for them. So instead we have this idea of freedom that everybody is free to persist in behavior that takes them away from opportunities. The moment you question this, you will be shut down
Weird as in engineered? I see it as propaganda that keeps us controlled.
We are all bon equally with the opportunity to be our best selves with the resources we have.
yes. by censorship or algorithm.
Yes, engineered or perhaps artificial...... as in not following the natural progression of human understanding.
Thought provoking @tarazkp. A couple of points come to my mind, in reading it.
We'll all find out, soon enough, how well this is going to "play out" ...
So ... UBI is some sort of "paradise" that will change all of the historical patterns of man? While I do not profess to be wise enough to know exactly how it will "play out," I for one am not optimistic that it will be "good."
P.S. Yes, I do "see" what you "see" - that I have two different points labelled as 1 ... When, in fact, in the editor here inside SteemIt, I "see" this:
I think it will benefit some and enslave many who take getting something for nothing as the right of man. They will get something but, it won't be much and it won't provide life meaning.
It is a weird thing with the numbered lists. I get it too when i use them like that, don't know why.
Sorry, I'm dropping this comment here only to entertain you, as that's what you all want.
"Love yourself? Ass you are"
Ass can also be a massive gap in which you might be trapped. No light shining there though.
Basic income is a really neat idea. However if it's only in one area, it might attract people to the specific area only because of the basic income level they have.
The universal basic income however could help bring equality across the world, but it would need quite many changes in the system we are living in. Would we live with one currency? Would it be payed in a single currency while others being used? Who would determine the universal basic income level?
I'm not seeing basic income something which would give people only the essentials and leave them out of meaning and pleasures of life. Instead, it would allow them to work in more free ways. You don't need to have a 40 hours per week job for it to be meaningful. You don't even always need the extra money and work to have a meaningful, enjoyable life.
The automation is removing the tasks which are not important. Some might be completely left without a job, but most likely they would find a meaning. Hopefully something else than working only to work.
The gap in income is not only a threat, but the most important thing is can the poorest still live a good life? It doesn't harm them if some own much more if they still live well.
I actually wanted just to write the joke but I couldn't stop. Sorry.
A UBI would be implemented locally first (I think Europe will lead the way) but it will slowly extend outward. Yes, a lot of things have to be sorted in order to get it working but for example in Finland, a person from outside the EU (unless a refugee) doesn't qualify for kela support for 3 years (at least it was this way). Perhaps it would be similar with a UBI.
Absolutely but again, I think that to have this it is can't be left up to governments and industry to create the space for it, it has to come from the people.
There is so much potential in this world that is being wasted currently and instead of solving the problems that can improve lives enormously, we sit and play games and scroll news feeds of nonsense.
It is a shame because you made me write more. With a joke I could have just written, lol and moved on.
Brilliant piece mate. Not that you've written bad ones. Few truer words ever spoken. I've been pondering the same thing and sadly the cattle and those who raise them don't see and those who do see it happening are stuck staring into the headlights, stunned and seemingly unable to act.
This will get messy and the haves will become few while the have nots will become plenty, controlled and unable to escape the slavery they are leading themselves toward.
Honestly, I don't know what I am going to do about it either. At the moment, my focus is on making the space so that my daughter can potentially solve some of these issues as they aren't going to be solved by people without resource or influence, nor the incompassionate.
You'll do well as you are already doing well mate. You know what to do, let her grow, but not too fast. Guidelines are key in this new world we're in and you know what the snares are so teach her what to look out for.
One thing we know for sure is the unemployed sector is going to grow to alarming proportions. I don't know how it is all going to pan out but there is going to be a huge divide in wealth. Maybe it will be a bit like here where we have the higher brackets and the lower accounts and nothing or very few in no mans land. Communism didn't work with everyone getting paid the same and it won't be healthy if this is what is on the cards in the not to distant future.
This is already happening and as automation continues, it will affect the mid-range the most as they are the largest cost to production. The low end manual workers aren't necessarily worth replacing yet, and the middleclass programmable jobs are easier to target.
I think a UBI is an inevitability and it will be different to communism as it will still allow for capitalist thinking. It doesn't stop people from working and for the smart ones, will increase their mobility and potential. If I had a UBI income, I wouldn't be one to slow down and if anything, it provides a sfety net so I can jump higher.
That sounds more positive than doom and gloom. I can see a lot though just accepting the UBI and doing nothing. Can see where Steem fits in to this scenario quite comfortably.
Indeed it does. Not only as an earner but as a mechanism of distribution. Blockchain is going to likely be heavily involved in the organisation of any UBI as trust and immutability are vital.
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I think there will be wars rebellions and revolutions before UBI and a solution. Mass immigration economic wars, and nationalist uprisings are already on their way in. This may be followed by military action.
thanks for give us this kind of information...great writing sir
What is your take on continued automation and the potential implications of a UBI?
@tarazkp your thought and philosophy is very good. I always loves your philosophy.
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