Blaze sez:
> They should do an experiment. Randomly select 100 kids in high school > and tell them that they'll get paid a min income for the rest of their life. > > Find out where they are in 4 years versus a control group An interesting suggestion, Blaze. Actually, we can perform a variation on this experiment right now. Randomly select 100, 1000... (or how many kids necessary to get a good statistical sample) from high schools who come from wealthy households where the teenagers know beyond a shadow of doubt that will be guaranteed a fixed modest income for the rest of their lives regardless of whether they seek traditional employment or not. This is what I suspect could happen: . A certain group will waste their entire lives, doing nothing of significance. They will feed off of the fixed income they receive each month and produce nothing of substance other than human waste and household garbage. A subset of the above group will unfortunately become self-destructive. They will succumb to indulging in personal vices like alcohol or narcotics. Many of them will die young. A waste of human existence. Another subset of the above group might be fortunate enough to wake up from their self-inflicted nightmares and decide that maybe they ought to do something useful with how much "life" they have left to live on the planet. They will be the lucky ones. I suspect many of them may become highly motivated to help make the place a better world. We should listen to them because they will have passed through the fire and somehow managed to survive several treacherous pitfalls associated with the human condition. Many of them may end up generating useful products or sought after services highly valued by society, thus augmenting their personal fixed incomes. . Another group will know very early on what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They will pursue those activities to the best of their ability based on how much freedom their fixed income might allow them. I suspect collectively collaborating with other like-minded individuals where groups pool their personal resources such as fixed incomes is likely to succeed in generating interesting products and services not possible on an individual scale! In any case, if what they pursue generates additional income through the generation of sought after products or services, including through traditional employment, well then, they will be able to purchase additional services and products for themselves. . Another group, (which I suspect I might belong to) may flounder about for a spell during their early adult life. Many of them may have a few tenuous ideas as to what they would like to so, or perhaps none at all. Eventually, hopefully, they will find activities they will enjoy doing. maybe even love doing. Hopefully, during the floundering about phase, many of them will be lucky enough to discover the fact that performing certain activities that help others, that help improve the overall environment is likely to reciprocate and make themselves feel better. Pursuing useful/helpful activities tend to give many of us a sense of value to an otherwise existential existence where concepts of "meaning" and "value" appear to be totally arbitrary. (The "lack of meaning" can actually be terrifying to some young adults. I know. It happened to me.) No doubt some of these activities may eventually be accomplished through traditional employment activities. However, I suspect other activities may turn out to be quite unconventional by today's standards. It could be very interesting to see what activities, products and services such individuals might come up with. or not. In the end, it's a crap shoot. Personal Conclusion: This is not idle speculation. We are headed in this direction regardless of whether we are prepared for it or not. assuming we don't end up trashing the planet in the process. Respected creative thinkers such as psychologists, sociologists, scientist and researchers, but also artists and performers need collectively to ponder the ramifications of what "freedom of choice" really means to our sense of individuality and overall well-being. To be blunt about it, some individuals will not know what to do with their "freedom of choice". Some of them will flounder. badly. Some of them may need special guidance or mentoring in order to help them better recognize and avoid self-destructive behavior. Some will need help on how to make better choices and more useful creative activities. IMO, the best way to prepare for the inevitability of these issues will be education, lots of discussion and feedback, mentoring, and plenty of self-reflection. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson svjart.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/newvortex/
