From: Jeremy Ulrey (julrey@amaonline.com)
Date: Sun Apr 26 1998 - 20:48:30 MDT
We've all heard the fears that manual laborers are too resistant to
losing their jobs as a result of technological progress- what do we do
with these people? This is a relevant concern and one I don't wish to
delve into, but instead I'd like to address the white-collar capitalists
and their role in the scheme of things. No, I'm not a
socialist/Marxist/anarchist, and I certainly don't intend to bash
capitalism as a system. But the fact is, not only in America but
increasingly overseas, businesses have been taught to push their
products- to either fulfill a social need or create a desire for a new
one. My question is not "what do we do with these people?", but how the
needs of humans/transhumans will evolve along with progressive
automation. How much of a public demand will be required for any given
product to make it worthwhile to produce? Exactly how much wealth will
there be to go around? What new forms of entertainment will arise out
of the ashes of the market-driven archetypes? As you can see, this is
really more of a speculative question than a problem to be solved, and
as such might be deemed to trivial to warrant attention by many, but I
welcome comments from all interested parties.
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