Re: The end of work?

[Thomas Lunde]

Ed Wrote:

All of these? I would suggest there will be no end of work.

Ed Weick

 

Thomas:

 

Your thesis of growth from original idea to  larger employment is well buttressed by several historical examples.  However, the computer has the potential in speed and computing power to seriously eliminate things that we humans do.  And so your exponential growth idea can just as easily be applied to an invention that negates our usefulness in the production of things and  eliminates the need for our participation in the creation of things.  That exponential growth may suddenly - in terms of time, eliminate jobs.  When jobs go, the economic system, as we know it goes, for it is circular in that labour and material are combined to produce products which are consumed by those with money which they have earned from labour.

So the real problem may not be our modern version of the steam engine which went a long way to eliminate the horse, but the whole infrastructure we have divised to distribute purchasing power and create an accumulation of wealth.  How can you have an economy when there is minimal employment to create markets?

Respectfully,

 

Thomas Lunde