[ExI] self driving truck

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 1 November 2016 at 13:23, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 7:09 PM, Stathis Papaioannou <stathisp at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> But another possibility is that the rich may seek to eliminate the
>> unproductive. Historically, the masses have been potentially useful to the
>> rich and powerful, however contemptuous they may have been of them: kings
>> needed subjects, conquerors needed soldiers, capitalists needed workers.
>> But come the robots, the poor may be seen by the rich as at best a burden,
>> at worst a threat.
>
>
> This seems unlikely, for "poor" is a relative term.  Eliminate the poorest
> 50%, and what used to be the 50-75% range is suddenly the poorest 50%.
> Eliminate them...frankly, even before you eliminated the poorest 10%, most
> likely the bottom 99% would see the top 1% mean to eliminate all who are
> not (and some who are) within their personal social circles.
>

By "poor" I mean those who lack significant power, capital or marketable
skills. At present, they can at least add to the pool of unskilled
labourers. Eliminate the need for unkilled labour, eliminate the need for
most skilled labour - not much incentive left for those with power and
capital to keep the rest around.



-- 
Stathis Papaioannou
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