The topic of human labor being rendered obsolete by robots has come up
here from time to time. I discovered a web site and book about this by
someone named Martin Ford:
http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com
http://www.thelightsinthetunnel.com/LIGHTSTUNNEL.PDF
Ford founded a silicon valley software development company, so he knows
a thing or two about computers and robots. He has given a lot of thought
to the future of economics in a world in which most human labor is worth
nothing.
Quote from book:
"The reality is that the free market economy, as we understand it today,
simply cannot work without a viable labor market. Jobs are the primary
mechanism through which income—and, therefore, purchasing power—is
distributed to the people who consume everything the economy produces.
If at some point, machines are likely to permanently take over a great
deal of the work now performed by human beings, then that will be a
threat to the very foundation of our economic system. This is not
something that will just work itself out."
He makes a variety of level-headed suggestions regarding the tax system,
outsourcing and economic policy. In essence, he wants a system in which
work is optional. People can work if they want, and they can become as
wealthy as they are able, because the free market remains, but at the
same time, everyone is automatically given enough money to live a decent
middle-class life and get as much education as he or she wants. This
scheme is more or less what I and others here have suggested we will
need to implement sometime in the future.
The book is carefully thought out but it could have used a good editor.
The metaphor in the first chapter about lights in a tunnel (and the
title of the book) seems superfluous to me.
- Jed
