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A) Robot ships will be built by robots. Most associated human jobs will be skilled; Joe Sixpack need not apply, unless he can get a technical degree or certificate.<div><br></div><div>B) You have triggered the Bastiat broken window fallacy. </div><div><br></div><div>C) Military Keynesianism is even less efficient than normal Keynesianism, if such a thing is possible; military spending has a very high capital-to-labor ratio, it's expensive, for very little return in the way of jobs. <br><br><div><div id="SkyDrivePlaceholder"></div>> From: spike66@att.net<br>> To: extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org<br>> Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2012 09:05:13 -0700<br>> Subject: [ExI] keynes vs hayek again, was: RE: 3d printers for sale<br>> <br>> <br>> >... On Behalf Of BillK<br>> Subject: Re: [ExI] 3d printers for sale<br>> <br>> On Sat, Aug 25, 2012 at 5:28 PM, spike wrote:<br>> >>... Got a 3D printer three weeks ago, set it to print a copy of itself...<br>> ><br>> ><br>> <br>> >...What happens if a neighbour starts doing the same as you? Do you feed<br>> each others machines into your machines?<br>> Where will it all end? BillK<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> <br>> If he tries that, I will throw him into the feeder for my printer and make<br>> two copies of me, since he is twice my size. Problem solved. {8^D<br>> <br>> BillK, I want you to read the following and comment, since I respect your<br>> opinion and would like a British point of view.<br>> <br>> Thought experiment: take two big industrialized nations that make war stuff,<br>> such as the US and China, have them build an enormous naval fleet to go out<br>> into the middle of the Pacific and fight it out. With modern automated<br>> controls, there is no reason to endanger actual humans, so make everything<br>> robotic or remote controlled, all the guns, identification friend or foe,<br>> all the communications between ships, everything. These ships will be<br>> constructed in shipyards all along the US west coast, and will be supplied<br>> by subcontractors everywhere making stuff. All unemployed people will be<br>> taken in by something somewhere in this supply chain, even if they are<br>> perfectly useless: they can be greeters like Walmart has, who only need to<br>> smile and say good morning to the workers coming in, if they can't do<br>> anything else at all. In return, there is no more welfare, for there is no<br>> need for it: anyone who wants a job can get one. It doesn't pay much, but<br>> it beats starvation. Daycare is available on station, as a benefit, and as<br>> soon as the kids hit about 15, they are given a job after their studies are<br>> done for the day.<br>> <br>> Instantly the unemployment rate drops from a stubborn 8% to nada, and the<br>> tax money is flowing like a waterfall, which is good because the cost of all<br>> this is appalling, but hey, the economy is steaming ahead as both countries,<br>> and all the other countries who supply cars and furniture and all the other<br>> stuff, have enormous emerging markets, since everyone is as busy as a hive<br>> of bees on a spring day. When the ships are all finished, they steam out to<br>> the middle of the sea and blast each other until the whole robo-mess rests<br>> on the bottom of the sea while each side sits at computer monitors on shore,<br>> cheering for their own side. When the smoke clears, there is nothing to<br>> show for it but a big oil slicks where the robo-fleets once sailed.<br>> <br>> So now they start on the next robo-olympics, as all that junk forms a very<br>> expensive artificial reef. Keynes would comment: This is brilliant. Hayek<br>> would comment: This is madness.<br>> <br>> As the US is facing the expiration of the Bush tax cuts on 1 Jan 2013, we<br>> have an across-the-board budget cut mandated to go with it. It occurs to me<br>> that we have developed a system that is analogous to the robo-demolition<br>> derby described above: we build all this defense stuff, and eventually we<br>> evolved an economic dependence on it, madness or otherwise. Now the<br>> political news is dominated by commentary on local economies which will<br>> suffer if their piece of the supply line is cut. Our congressional budget<br>> office is forecasting a recession if the across-the-board cuts go forth.<br>> Yet neither party is making an effort to stop it, and most Americans realize<br>> that painful or not, the alternative is not sustainable. We are living<br>> waaaay beyond our means, but if all the cuts take place along with the tax<br>> increases, we will be living only a few hundred billion beyond our means, a<br>> fraction of the previous deficit. <br>> <br>> BillK, what would you say of that? Anders and the various monster brains<br>> present, what say ye? Hardcore libertarians among us, commentary please?<br>> <br>> spike<br>> <br>> _______________________________________________<br>> extropy-chat mailing list<br>> extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org<br>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat<br></div></div> </div></body>
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