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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Grigg<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, September 25, 2013 5:56 PM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] roboburgers to go<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Spike wrote:<br>></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Key: make the robo-burgers to where we can watch it being made and noooobody visibly working anything, runs >24/7 and isn’t it so easy to imagine, HEY HOMELESS GUY, come on over here, I’ll buy you a burger just to >watch this marvelous thing run. <br><br></span><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>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 generations of white collar workers may not be so fortunate...</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I do hear ya Johnny. It was insensitive of me to suggest making a commercial about a homeless guy getting robo-burgers. Good advertising is edgy stuff. The ad guys consider it a success if they offend about 5% of the audience. You can imagine playing the above ad on an outlet such as (what’s that music video thing that you young guys watch?) MTV. That station is viewed by a crowd that is hard to offend.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I think I went off on a tangent: advertising rather than your point: robo-burger will eliminate low-end jobs. Here’s the scoop John: my job was eliminated by technology as well, and it was my own fault. I invested years into learning a bunch of controls techniques that were perfectly suited for software. Matlab and Simulink can do everything I did and a lot more, it never gets tired, it doesn’t ask for raises. Shelly’s job has a half-life I would now estimate in months at best, for all the same reasons. Our fault: we should have foreseen that our specialized knowledge could be automated. It was.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>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</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I do hear you, my youthful companion.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><br></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>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</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Ja, that automated restaurant thing is still cool though. I will eat there, even if some big evil corporation is making a buttload of money while the human former-burger flippers are turned out of one of the lowest-end jobs our technologically advanced society can imagine. I don’t have the answers to that. My own memories of working in one of those places is of unbroken misery, and I had the best job in the place. As soon as I got a chance to do beekeeping, I jumped on that like a ton of linemen on a loose football and never looked back. I did roofing in Florida in the summertime; even that job was better than fast food, oy vey.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> <br></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>>…</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>But it's nice to dream.... John</span><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>Ja by all means. I have the notion that most factories will be automated soon, and if so, I have a notion that we may get a lights-out PV factory. Then I can imagine plenty of young people will be employed installing solar panels on American rooftops. We can argue energy all we want, but rooftops everywhere are there, and they can accept solar panels. Even if it isn’t the cheapest energy, it is energy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>We are a species that needs to work. We want to work. So let’s work at that. Why not? Even if we want to argue there is plenty of oil/coal/natural gas/thorium/pick your favorite, there is little downside to getting humanity going on building rooftop solar everywhere while we wait for the other stuff. We want to work, and that’s a task.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:#1F497D'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>