Re:The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China, It’s Automation
by ako on Thursday December 22, 2016 @05:37AM
(#13236322)
Marx speaking...
Re:The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China, It’s Automation
by ivm on Thursday December 22, 2016 @08:15AM
(#13237036)
> According to distributists, property ownership is a fundamental right, and the means of production should be spread as widely as possible, rather than being centralized under the control of the state (state socialism), a few individuals (plutocracy), or corporations (corporatocracy). Distributism, therefore, advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership.
> Distributism has often been described in opposition to both socialism and capitalism, which distributists see as equally flawed and exploitive.
Re:The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China, It’s Automation
by padobson on Thursday December 22, 2016 @07:47AM
(#13236900)
Maybe, but I'm not sure Marx understood that capitalism would have such a potential for wealth distribution. Today, you can buy a 3D printer for 1/20th of the median US salary. You can buy a super computer that fits in your pocket for 1/50th of it. You can call your broker and buy an ownership stake in Apple, Exxon Mobil, or General Electric for smaller fractions than that.
Capitalism has actually provided far more avenues for laborers to own the means of production than any communist revolution has.
As automation gets better and cheaper, there will still be jobs for everyone - they'll just be performed by the robots they purchased for 1/10th, 1/20th or 1/50th of the median wage.
Re:The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China, It’s Automation
by twoquestions on Thursday December 22, 2016 @10:04AM
(#13237645)
You could buy bits of capital in the 1890s as well, and technology was advancing at a breakneck pace then too, but society still became a quasi-feudal state. Some form of wealth redistribution will be necessary to ensure people's freedom, the tricky bit is how to do it without unduly stifling innovation and investment.
Lately I've really been grappling with how to accomplish this, and it is a Very Hard problem.
That's why we need to place the means of production in the hands of the people, not just of capitalists.
> What will it mean to work and contribute to society in the future of machines?
Self-supporting human society, a mix of small companies, skilled people and experts, using automation as well, that works to solve the daily necessities for itself. So it would have its own farms, fabs, schools and such, totally self supporting and self bootstrapped. People wouldn't need UBI if they had the means to directly make what they need. We're going that way - everything becoming cheaper, until it lifts itself by self replication.