[ExI] reasonable what ifs

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: Dave Sill <sparge at gmail.com> 
Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 4:41 AM
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Cc: Spike Jones <spike at rainier66.com>
Subject: Re: [ExI] reasonable what ifs

 

On Tue, Apr 7, 2020 at 3:57 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org <mailto:extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> > wrote:

She continues: You didn’t let me finish.  I was going to add: … if you still want them.  Starting today, we are all working for a 20% discount.

 

I'd gladly take a 20% cut if I could work from home, as I've been doing for the past three weeks.

 

-Dave 

 

 

Dave there are plenty of people who would, but that might be an optimistic scenario.  Information workers whose work is relevant will likely have options, but not all will.  My neighbor is a production engineer in a local electronics factory which is closed.  There is nothing he can do from home while the machines are idle, so he is out of luck.  Some of the locals work from home.

 

So imagine a scenario where we realize that we have the tech to do work from home and our needs change a lot.  For starters, I am looking for grocery delivery services.  I used them a few times a coupla years ago and found they work, but they weren’t compelling.  Now they are.  But now they are not available.  They can’t hire enough people to put the products in the boxes and tape them shut.  We have enough Uber drivers I think, but not enough packers willing to work for 12 bucks an hour after they have been making 50 on average at their other jobs.

 

What I am doing is envisioning a new normal where people generally don’t do the high-luxury stuff nearly as much, don’t eat at restaurants much, don’t go on road trips or fly across the sea.  We could still feed everyone and lotsa stuff would be done from home.

 

spike

 

 

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