Brian Ahern <ahern_br...@msn.com> wrote: > Is this a technical discussion group or: A bunch of dilitantes expounding > a socialist agenda. > Many of the people advocating this plan, such as Elon Musk, are not socialist or communists. They are leading modern capitalists, including some the wealthiest people in the world. It makes no sense for you to say they advocate socialism.
I think you fail to understand an essential point. Capitalism, socialism, communism and all other economic systems in history have been based on human labor. Most people exchange their own labor for money. In the future, computers and robots can do nearly all work such as driving cars, building houses, diagnosing x-rays and performing surgery. Human labor will gradually become worthless. Most people will have no way to make a living. In that situation, the only rational thing to do is to have robots do the work, and give everyone a basic income. The wealth would not be taken from any person. It would be taken from robots. The system would not limit any person's income. It would be a floor, not a maximum. It would not resemble socialism or capitalism, or any system we now have. It would not even be possible with today's technology. Capitalism as we know it cannot survive if nearly every person is unemployed. People will have no means to buy goods. No one can compete with machines that do the same work a person can do for pennies a day. It would be like trying to do accounting with pen and ink, adding up the numbers in a paper ledger, in competition with a computer. It would be like trying to dig coal with a pickax and shovel in competition with a P&H 4100 XPC shovel, which digs 109 tons of coal or ore in a minute or so: http://www.joyglobal.com/product-details/4100xpc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Ip0L0aoqE Machinery like this is why mining jobs will never come back. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU - Jed
