[ExI] retrainability of plebeians

Dagon Gmail dagonweb at gmail.com
Mon Apr 20 18:18:59 UTC 2009


It is plausible and arguable (but by no means certain) that somewhere
between 2015 and 2035
a large percentage of current types of employability become redundant, if no
acutely uneconomical,
due to robotization, VR, telepresence and telecommuting and variants of
nanotech.

In other words, if suddenly (in the span of months) one major fast food
franchise switches to full
automation, can produce better and cheaper products almost immediately, and
same niche franchises
do the same, how will US/EU societies handle an influx of several *million*
low-trained, now-skilled,
low-education fringe value workers?  Can millions of burgerflippers be
retrained into diaperswappers
fast enough (*and bear in mind many of you will in fact have their diapers
changed by these ex
Jack in the Box <http://blog.makezine.com/281736780_9b673093bd.jpg>employees
*)

Likewise, to all libertarians out there, is a basic income paid from taxes
categorically unacceptable,
or at what stage would it be wise? Who believes these millions (*and my
guess is a lot more, fast
food isn't the only business that will be affected) can be retrained*? How
about governments levying extra
tax on people working over 40 hours.  Or people working over 30 hours... in
attempts to nutella the
available work more evenly. What will happen in the third world where no
such concepts such as
welfare or social safety nets or basic income are politically valid? What if
most of agriculture becomes
a agrifactory business (greenhouses, "agricologies") overnight? What if it
becomes *cheaper* and more
efficient to produce crops very close to power generation infrastructures,
in very large *automated*
and sustainable buildings? How would such cheap automatic foodstuff
production affect the employability
of millions in the third world who will be "even more" unable to compete
than they are now?

Can the radical libertarian "*your own f****g responsibility, don't bother
me with your whining as you
starve*"-crowd please let me know at what levels of unemployment would they
propose what kind of
egalitarian measures...? Or would "euthanasia for the unemployable" be
merciful?

At 20% unemployment figures? At 30%? At 50%? Higher?

How do you propose dealing with mass migrations of the ultra desperate?
Electrified and poisoned razor
wire, minefields, automated sentry guns and nerve gas? Xenophobes waging
terrorism on third world
countries to disrupt refugee flows?

Or will this never happen? No personal attacks please, "for now".

(Best source: marshall brain articles)
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