From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Sun Jul 22 2001 - 19:54:18 MDT
Samantha wrote
> Lee wrote
>> Yes, but (as [Damien] said in some text I deleted) it could take a while
>> to ramp up to the Singularity. More important, perhaps, is that I
>> just have a problem suggesting to people---say in their early twenties---
>> that saving money is probably pointless, working hard (and getting a
>> good job), educating yourself (even if you don't feel like it)...
>> I just have a hard problem suggesting to them that they needn't do
>> these things. I'm pretty sure you feel the same way. I think that
>> people are simply better off if they follow the "old" maxims.
>
> Sure. I have a hard problem with that too. But who is saying
> that? Certainly not I or anyone else I have heard here.
With the Singularity so close, why would you tell someone to save
money, work hard (even when they don't feel like it), and educate
themselves (even when they don't want to)? I'll bet that you have
reasons! But they can retort "now there is a GMI---so I don't
*have* to do any of those things, right?"
> Technically and economically we can feed everyone right now.
> The main barriers are all political. Waiting until after MNT is
> bullshit.
You still have not answer my earlier question: how much money
do you think that your U.S. government will have to spend on the
200,000,000 adults in the U.S. to provide the GMI? Remember also,
that we have now learned (thanks to Chris Rauch this morning 10:01am)
that about one-fourth of the populace would quit working within a
year, and that many more might have less incentive to work if they
**thought** that a lot of lazy people were getting a free ride?
>> People like Bill Gates now have wealth that is on the order
>> of 10^7 times as much as some poor person needs to sustain
>> life. Maybe it would be best to wait until that figure gets
>> to 10^12 or 10^13, because then a number of compassionate rich
>> people will simply fund a minimal standard of living for everyone.
>> This should occur as we approach the Singularity, and we don't
>> the onerous stealing from the rich to give to the poor (by force).
>
> In the meantime what? Starvation?
Do you have any idea of how many people each year starve
to death in the U.S.? Hint: do you think that it reaches
the newspapers when an elderly person trapped in their
apartment actually does? About how many children in the
U.S. starve to death each year? Is the GMI really needed
to prevent starvation?
Lee
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