Our Replacements II

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about our soon to be automated lives.  This is about the ramifications.

I am a Libertarian.  I have two big reasons for that.

1. I believe Capitalism is the best way we currently have to fairly divide up our resources based on who contributed to creating those resources.  That drives people to create resources.

2. I think it is wrong to take what someone has earned, and give it to someone who didn't earn it.

3. I think governments is bad at everything it does.  It is unfortunately in the best or only position to do some of the things we need doing.

Libertarianism makes sense in a world with scarcity.  But how about a world without scarcity?  One where we have automated 90 plus percent of what we want done.  We can't reward people with the resources they need in exchange for their contributions to society if it's hard to find a way to contribute to society.  And why hold back resources at all if they're nigh unlimited?

The big problem I see to start is despair.  Suicide is often a success problem.  People afflicted often don't feel needed.  A job often gives someone a place in society.  People without a place in society often don't feel needed.  Even rats in a society without a place in that society will act in self destructive ways.  We will need to find a way to reorganize our society.  We can find a way, but there will be causalities.

The next issue I see is protecting us from each other.  With limitless resources comes limitless power.  We need to make sure people don't take advantage of that in negative ways.  Like making antimatter to blow each other up, for example.

And my last big concern is the singularity.  This is what people call the moment that machines can make a machine smarter than itself, and does so.  The difference between a person making a thinking machine, and a machine making a thinking machine, is like the difference between getting cut on a saw, and getting cut on a chain saw.  It's gonna be fast.  We might not recognize a person 1,000 times smarter than the smartest human, and it my have very different goals and priorities.  This is a subject of many thousands of words.  I'll just say this could be the best thing that ever happened to us, or the absolute worst.

Humans are doers.  We have done amazing things, and continue to surprise ourselves.  I do think we can solve these problems, but they are problems that need to be solved.  I'm not sure who first said 100% unemployment should be the goal.  I do agree though.  I believe in a bright future.