[ExI] Farmville for real

[spike]

>... Richard Loosemore
...
 
>> Ja, so people make money on illegal operations.

>Whoa!!  Most of your food comes from these illegal operations...

Coool!  That gives me a GREAT idea, thanks.  We already have organic produce
for a certain segment of the population.  To maintain certified organic,
farms must do yakkity yak and bla bla.   So we set up certified legal
produce!  That's good thinking Richard.  Hell we could combine them: organic
LEGAL produce!  Locally grown!  We could have the price up to subsistence
level with just a few such add-ons.

>...  If these illegal farmers stopped hiring slaves, you would starve. ;-)
...

Welll, I wouldn't.  But poor people might.  But the phrase "hiring slaves"
is a contradiction in terms.

>... So don't be so quick to knock it...

Knock it?  I was seeking to make money.  Clean lucre, by the cubic buttload.
Hmmm, that too might be a contradiction in terms.

>...this is the USA you live in, so be proud of the Blind Eye system...

Blind eye system?  Well, sure our border enforcement is lax to non-existent.
I don't know what to do about that.  Open to suggestion.

>... that keeps slavery alive and kicking in the 21st century...

Indeed?  Hired slaves?  Before you go on with that thought, picture actual
slavery.  Two examples, 19th century southern US states, and 20th century
Germany.  Compare with that situation you equate with 21st century slavery.
It is the anti-particle to the two examples I gave, similar in some
characteristics, opposite in one critically important one: the 21st century
version is voluntary.  No, wait, understatement.  The slaves in my example
would risk it all to escape.  The slaves in your example break the law, pay
all they have and risk everything including their lives, to sign up to be
hired slaves.

>...Well, to be sure, if you can get 10,000 suck.. er, sorry, I mean amateur
farmvillers to pay $20 each, per year for the privilege of managing one
ten-thousandth of your crops, then may you live long in all those ducats,
sir!

Thanks, I will try.

>...However, a few small questions.  How are you going to manage the chaos
of 10,000 micro-lots, each with a different crop?...

I will not manage it.  I rent fertile ground.  It is up to the nanofarmer to
manage everything.  They hire, they water, they fertilize, they accept all
risk, I collect a pittance.

>... Are you going to pay a sufficiently large number of mincome yokels...

I will not hire.  The renters will hire.  They will enjoy it.  They will pay
to do it.

>...  Methinks that could break your budget in no time at all...

I agree, but it would not break *my* budget.  Rather the budget of the
nanofarmer, and she can afford it.  The point of having a nanofarm is that
the investment and risk is small.  Of course the potential payback is
negligible, but that isn't my problem.

>... And how long do you think those amateur farmvillers will keep paying
their $20 per year when all they get is (1) a decision point, when they
choose the crop, and (2) a thumbs-up/thumbs-down at the end of the season,
telling them whether or not the whole planting got eaten by eel-worms?...

$20 per year?  I want $200 per acre year.  How long do they stay?  Don't
know.  But there is a low risk way to find out.

>...Or, do you plan to give each person a webcam looking at their plot, and
access to computer controlled water spraying devices?...

Excellent thinking sir!  That's a hell of an idea.  Keith Henson and I
kicked around a few ideas like that too.

>...  Or remotely piloted robots that they can use for an hour every night,
doing the weeding?

That's even better!  RP slavebots free the slaves you spoke of earlier and
dis-incentivizes them from coming here. 

>... I don't think they'll stick around long if it isn't fast and
interesting.  Farming does not really have a reputation for being fast and
interesting...

That is a major challenge for the video game generation, granted.

>...Don't get me wrong:  I have spent many happy hours trying to figure out
ways to use AGI to manage one kind (High Farming, Organic, Permaculture) of
farming, so I am not a million miles away from your intentions here. 
  I just am not sure how well this plan was thought through, ... master...
Richard Loosemore

Thanks I freely share with you the credit and with anyone who contributes
ideas.  In return I offer my everlasting gratitude and respect.  {8-]  I add
a hint of urgency.  Because of failing health of both the CEO and the head
of the labor department, I may need to take a more active role soon, oy.

spike