[ExI] roboburgers to go

[Eugen Leitl]

On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 05:55:39PM -0700, John Grigg wrote:

> And then, when A.I. replaces many many jobs in the American economy, even
> engineering jobs, then you Spike, get to be the homeless guy! lol  Well,
> except that you are working/retired, have a wife who also is an engineer,
> and I'm sure you have your money carefully invested.  But the younger

That investment thing... it no longer works the way it used to.
The assumption is based on sustained exponential growth, and we 
no longer have that.

Nothing is immune from being raided, whether government pension or
private retirement plan, bank account, or even physical metal or
real estate ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauszinssteuer )
are just sitting ducks for confiscation. You have to diversify across
many asset classes (many not ordinarily considered as investment,
aka security by obscurity and stealth) and across geographic locations. 
Even if you're aware of that, most are insufficient tall to ride that 
ride. Post GenXers are pretty much completely screwed, especially if 
they're residing in failing states -- of which there will be a 
great deal more shortly.

While the finance and economic problems are exacerbated by
poor management (to put it euphemistically), the underlying
driver that humanity has expanded their numbers and their
rate of resource consumption per person beyond the limits
of what this planet can take. Sounds familiar? Yeah, broken
record, I know.

Just as economic debt produces a crisis eventually, so does
ecological debt (overshoot). They're somewhat related --
the economic outlook right now look a lot brighter if
you'd pay 30-40 USD/barrel. 

> generations of white collar workers may not be
> so fortunate...
> 
> 
> Spike, be grateful for the many things the universe blessed you with,
> because many people do not get the brain power, health, loving family, or
> good birth year, that you received.  The nameless homeless guy you mention,
> was probably not nearly as blessed, despite whatever bad decisions he may
> have made in his life.
> 
> 
> And as for everyone saying, "Kickstarter!!!"  "Let's get rich!!!"  I
> suspect the big corporations/franchises are not going to need your money as
> they automate themselves.  And I bet venture capitalists have already
> poured tons of money into robotics companies with the goal of automating
> fast food restaurants.

I don't know the real costs for fast food meat, but I doubt you 
can really afford it, if you had to pay it. So fast food meat does
not have a very bright future. Even so, fast food is not really
the cheapest option to get your (borderline edible) calories.
Cooking might no long stay a lost art, particularly if you have
a lot of time but no money.
 
> But it's nice to dream....
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