Jobs are the primary way that purchasing power gets delivered into the hands of consumers. If jobs at all levels are destined to evaporate in the face of broad-based automation, radical intervention -- and perhaps even a fundamental rewiring of the way the economy works -- may ultimately be our only alternative.
Here is where I post some of the other articles that have covered this:
* Peter Frase in Jacobin responding a NYT editorial, discusses the post-work future.
I know there are more out there but my grain can't remember them right now so I will update this as I can.
an interesting reply to the frase article http://hubski.com/pub?id=73516
also i recommend the new-ish tag #postwork if you submit things on this subject
Thanks.
- If jobs at all levels are destined to evaporate in the face of broad-based automation, radical intervention -- and perhaps even a fundamental rewiring of the way the economy works -- may ultimately be our only alternative.
I am leery about this. I can't bring to mind any examples where governments successfully rewired an economy. Most of the success stories have developed over time in response to a changing political and technological landscape. My guess is that here, it will be no different. Perhaps decoupling currency from governments (i.e. bitcoin) is one step in this process towards a new normal. Powerful vested interests probably represent the the biggest danger going forward. However, I suspect that if there is a non-calamatous route from here to there, it cannot be engineered. As a result, as I mentioned in my previous comment, I think we need to be leery of problem solvers that have a traditional approach.
It has been a strikingly common topic the last couple of weeks, hasn't it? I wonder if this is only on Hubski or if there's been a wider social grappling with this that wasn't there until very recently. I mean obviously people had been thinking about it but it was a discussion about the hypothetical future, not a looming, plausible reality.
Perhaps with the excitement of 3d printing, the clarity of global food waste, the brazen exploitation of working people, and the recent massive crises of capitalism, people are more receptive to the idea.
But it's not a new idea, nor even a new way of speaking about the idea. A post-work society is one of the primary goals of radical leftists. If you're seeing more frequent discussion on the subject, especially on Hubski, I suspect it's mostly due to the filter bubble that Hubski is so good at cultivating.
That's probably true. I know it's been a common theme for a long time and it was just striking to me that I felt like I've seen this conversation crop up many more times in the last month on Hubski and the last year in general than ever before. It could also just be that I'm more aware of it and paying attention to the idea.
I guess what I should really say isn't that I'm hearing more about the idea but more acceptance of the idea. It's easier to see it come up as a mainstream conversation rather than some kind of radical leftist fantasy. Unless we are fostering the radical leftist conversation, I suppose.