Seriously, before that, 90% of the world was a laborer or agrarian, and the visual image was king

now we have jobs with fancy typewriters, science has almost taken over, and there is an alphabetic monopoly

discuss

12/15/2006 12:21:55 PM

society peaked in the 1960s

it's been downhill ever since

it's all google's fault

12/15/2006 12:24:18 PM

Society is really going to be pwnt once brain-computer interfaces become common. They are already out there.

12/15/2006 12:25:11 PM

i'm scared of the matrix

its gonna happen for real

12/15/2006 12:26:45 PM

Virtual reality will happen, yes.

It won't because crazy AIs want to use humans as power sources, though.

There are better power sources out there.

12/15/2006 12:32:47 PM

i can't wait for the matrix

imagine the message boards they'll have

12/15/2006 12:43:59 PM

I'd say that sliced bread was the downfall of humanity.

now we have peanut buttah parties.

woe is me!

12/15/2006 12:45:30 PM

lol

the dharma initiative killed society

i swear to golly goodness
if this thread gets locked

thats my next thread

[Edited on December 15, 2006 at 12:48 PM. Reason : i'll prolly get suspended first]

12/15/2006 12:47:49 PM

Quote :

"imagine the message boards they'll have"

I hope we'll have robot workers by then.

Because human productivity, at least the physical world, will quickly drop to zero.

12/15/2006 1:34:48 PM

Quote :

"Because human productivity, at least the physical world, will quickly drop to zero"

LOOKIT THESE UNEMPLOYMENT FIGURES!!! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE DEY TOOK AR JOOOBBBBBS.

12/15/2006 1:43:29 PM

I'm wondering what the labor force of 20 years from now will look like. Not diversity figures, but sector figures.

12/15/2006 1:58:02 PM

Robots will do most of the manual work.

Humans will do other stuff.

12/15/2006 2:15:56 PM

Fix robots.

12/15/2006 2:28:09 PM

No, robots will probably fix robots.

12/15/2006 2:30:40 PM

Thats not what my advisor told me.

Now I'm getting worried.

12/15/2006 2:56:22 PM

I'm specifically curious as to whether or not the future labor force needed by the economy will be a significant portion of the labor pool available. Skilled jobs are only requiring an increased amount of skill while lower end jobs are simply being replaced with machines at every possible turn.

Seems that we'll hit a wall eventually where class distinction begins to come into play as a result of the advances of the information age.

12/15/2006 3:56:16 PM

If we elimate the minimum wage, then maybe humans will at least be able to compete with robots for a little longer.

12/15/2006 3:59:26 PM

Here are the two possible extremes, the actual result will be somewhere in between. At the start, everyone is employed at 40 hours a week.
Scenario #1: Human wants are fixed, everything else is variable.
As productivity increases the quantity of goods/services demanded by each human remains flat. Therefore, as prices fall due to falling production costs workers seek to work fewer hours. After productivity has doubled, everyone will still be employed but for only 20 hours a week and everyone has the same standard of living (just more free time).

Scenario #2: human wants are infinite, everything else is fixed
As productivity increases the number of hours worked by each human being remains flat. Therefore, as prices fall due to falling production costs workers buy more and more stuff. After productivity has doubled, everyone will still be employed at 40 hours a week but with twice as much stuff.

Historically, Scenario #2 is more likely. Over the past 800 years real compensation per hour has gone up something rediculous like 200 fold, but average hours worked has only fallen by half (from 80 to 40 hours a week).

12/15/2006 4:30:19 PM

There's a huge whole in #2. Land isn't going to expand, so how are people going to store that doubling of stuff?

12/15/2006 4:36:45 PM

Gamecat, maybe you mistake doubling of "stuff" with doubling of current products.

In 1950, if you had said "everyone will have their own computer" people would have shit themselves because computers took up a whole house. "Where will we put them?" they might ask.

Twice as much stuff really only means a doubling in the standard of living, not puchasing two times the current goods.

12/15/2006 5:06:02 PM