tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post5749910020450964492..comments2024-03-20T16:30:09.690-05:00Comments on The Fifth Column: Why No Job Is SafeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-28265002073314471362017-04-27T13:14:09.371-05:002017-04-27T13:14:09.371-05:00Interesting post.
I think the most important obs...Interesting post. <br /><br />I think the most important observation here is that the mankind has had plenty of experience with scarcity, but very little with surplus. I would take this a step further: traditional morality (including Catholic morality) presumes scarcity, which is why in such a moral system discipline, respect for authority, and hard work are seen as virtues, whilst lasciviousness, gluttony, and laziness are seen as vices. Suffering is accepted as inevitable, delayed gratification is promoted, and instant gratification is shunned. Contemporary morality (which presupposes a surplus) flips that around on its head: suffering is something that can and should be eliminated, instant gratification is promoted, delayed gratification is shunned. People must have all their needs fulfilled as a moral imperative otherwise they are being oppressed or repressed. Unsurprisingly the Catholic Church's traditional teachings are rendered completely irrelevant under such a state of affairs.<br /><br />As to the problem of loosing jobs to machines: the rate at which this will happen is unclear at the moment. Whether or not we will ever reach a "singularity" of the Kurzwelian variety in which computers will match and then surpass the cognitive abilities of humans remains very much an open question (especially since Moore's Law is quickly loosing steam at this point). However, what is clear is that many jobs (particularly blue-collar jobs) will almost certainly be lost to robots in the near future (5-20 years), and so in the short term unemployment will rise and wages will be depressed. But is a mistake to think that in the long run automation will make production cheaper, faster, and more efficient, while at the same time leaving people worse off. Rather, what will probably happen will be a transition away from Capitalism and towards Communism in the original Marxian sense: an automated society that runs on government handouts and in which people can do whatever suits their fancy. If you do some research on UBI (Universal Basic Income) you will see that this concept is gaining popularity very rapidly, and it foreshadows the kind of future we are heading toward.<br /><br />This is not going to be a bright future. It sounds utopian, but it will be a dystopia. A society of adult children running to and from without so much as an inkling of what their purpose in life is, satisfying their every urge and fancy, without any higher obligations or strivings cannot last for long (cf. Prof. John B. Calhoun's mouse utopia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun#Mouse_experiments), and if it does then it will be (ironically enough) a world beneath the "dignity of man" to live in.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17085191871306721288noreply@blogger.com