Quote from: bitplane on July 23, 2011, 02:28:06 AM

Quote from: myrkul on July 23, 2011, 02:16:25 AM

At least this batch of techno-alarmists is more entertaining than the last 50.

Fire bad! Thok like cold meat! Wheel Bad! Thok like walking!

As a singularitarian and technology geek I welcome our robot overlords, I just can't imagine new types of jobs for humans if technological change continues at its current rate.

Quote from: lemonginger on July 23, 2011, 02:18:45 AM

If AI can do every job a skilled and creative human can, you've got a lot more to worry about than your naughty bits.

I completely agree. Fire up the paperclip maximizer, we've got a solar system to tile!

Quote from: lemonginger on July 23, 2011, 02:18:45 AM

I agree that automation doesn't nec hurt workers, but it doesn't nec help them either under the current arrangement, as most of the profit from that productivity gain gets captured by the super-rich. If we lived in a different socioeconomic system, I'd be a lot more excited about advancements that allow productivity to be gained, because then it is much more liekly that people will actually have the choice to work less and maintain a basic standard of living - eg the mythical world where the dripfeed essentially provides you basic shelter and food for next to nothing and one can build on top of that.

Yeah, Russell wrote about a 4-hour work day almost 80 years ago. We've got all this extra productivity and no extra slack, no change at all.

That's because we've been duped into believing that 'the market' will take care of us. If we had public outcry and mobilization around these issues: full unionization, full employment and a 30 hour work week we could have them at even higher pay than what we all have now.

It's just an issue of political awareness and action.