Re: and visual library once again

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Fri, 21 Oct 2005 10:55:40 -0400, Bob Spooner wrote:

> "Steve Whalen" <SteveWhalen001@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1129888684.681335.230450@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

>> Between 50 and 100 years from now there will be a massive deflationary
>> cycle as powerful computers combined with cheap electricity and
>> increasingly capable robots eliminate the cost of "labor" from the
>> economy.  Since the price performance of robots will begin to follow
>> that of the computers that drive them, all the basics (food, clothing,
>> shelter) will have their costs driven down toward zero.  At some point
>> the government will tax the robots and pay everyone $500 a month which
>> will be more than enough to live on.  You will be able to choose to
>> program, or to watch TV, or to garden, or to serve others, or do
>> nothing, just like in Star Trek <g>. Then programming will mostly be
>> done by people who do it because they love it, because nobody has to
>> work just to survive.

Depends on the definition of "survive." I bet, people storming Spain
borders in Africa differ on this mater with you. So would you with the
people living 100 years later.

> This sounds a lot like the predictions of about 40 years ago that with
> automation, etc. the biggest problem we would have now would be what to do
> with all the extra spare time. And yet the average person is working more
> hours now.

Because, probably the only one thing Marx was right about, is that in these
$500 only the amount of time spent by *human* beings counts. We trade with
other humans, we don't with automata! And we are trading our lives for the
lives of the others...

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de