Re:Green AI
by Nasrudith on Friday October 04, 2019 @09:26AM
(#21157399)
Apply it backwards - would a welfare system of having people complete large N Tower of Hanoi locks that pay people money be a good idea?
On one hand technically it is better than nothing immediately for those in need and is fraud resistant in that it consumes time and any better paying job without major negative externalities would be a better use of their time.
The negative is that it does nothing productive and those who are dependent on it aren't able to use their time productively on anything else.
While the problem of lack of income and lack of good uses for their labor certainly should be addressed just because it provides income doesn't make it a good thing overall.
It is one of those things which puts the "dismal" in the "dismal science" term for economics - regardless of any misgivings over calling it a science. It is essentially a subset of human organizational and incentive problems which the economy "is designed" (technically more emergant even if it is literally a planned economy) to solve.
On one hand technically it is better than nothing immediately for those in need and is fraud resistant in that it consumes time and any better paying job without major negative externalities would be a better use of their time.
The negative is that it does nothing productive and those who are dependent on it aren't able to use their time productively on anything else.
While the problem of lack of income and lack of good uses for their labor certainly should be addressed just because it provides income doesn't make it a good thing overall.
It is one of those things which puts the "dismal" in the "dismal science" term for economics - regardless of any misgivings over calling it a science. It is essentially a subset of human organizational and incentive problems which the economy "is designed" (technically more emergant even if it is literally a planned economy) to solve.