The Future of Work: continued

View 822 Monday, April 28, 2014

 

But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it away from the fog of the controversy.

Nancy Pelosi. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives

Referring to the Affordable Health Care Act

 

“Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.”

President Barack Obama, January 31, 2009

 

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983

 

If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan. Period.

Barrack Obama, famously.

 

“…the only thing that can save us is if Kerry wins the Nobel Prize and leaves us alone.”

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon

 

I have run into a flurry of distractions, and I seem to be coming down with the ache all over ye gods I feel awful stuff that appears to be creeping about in California – perhaps elsewhere?

We continue the discussion of the future of work:

Work etc.

Jerry,

Regarding your 26APR View, https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/the-future-of-work-continued/

two "reminders" come to mind:

Jim Hogan’s novel Voyage from Yesteryear, whereby the original robotics-supported settlers of the planet Charon had developed a political economy based on self-reliance and making meaningful artistic and scientific contributions over and above what the robots so plentifully supplied.

Stanley Schmidt’s essay wherein he suggested that the solution to the Fermi paradox was that any society that reaches the point where one madman (madbeing?) can command or leverage the energy (nuclear) or material (biological) resources to destroy the society in total will of necessity perish in that manner.

The former suggests that a society of plenty will eventually evolve into a society of scientists, artists/entertainers (which invites Spider Robinson’s "Melancholy Elephants"), and art critics (which invites Mr. Heinlein’s "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag"). The latter suggests that a significant fraction of the population will comprise threats to the lives and livelihoods of the rest; and significant, if not increasing, efforts will continue to be poured into controlling malcontents and attempting to block the activities of the madmen when they acquire their command or leverage of resources, or at least of those who wish to preserve their current power structure with its perks and control even when it flies in the face of the new system (which is basically how Voyage ends).

And then there is UN’s Agenda 21 with its stated assumption that the society of plenty will only be possible if the world population is corrected back to 18th Century levels, with most of the survivors living highly regimented lives in "sustainable" arcologies to support the relatively few elites who will actually enjoy the perks of the society of plenty.

Viewed that way, much of what is happening in the world today is rebellion against the evolving status quo, with the present societal elites (in all cultures but by different means – the Agenda 21/envirofascist "true believers," Putin, the Ayatollahs, the Chinese leadership, the Soros/Buffet/Bloomberg oligarchs and their foreign equivalents and international puppets – the new "feudal lords", the DemoRINO axis, etc.) trying to stuff the genie back into the bottle so as to maintain their own power and perks.

For what it’s worth….

J.

But of course a society of pleasant people who are satisfied with what they have presents no serious problem; how likely is that? The American welfare system provides a Middle Class Income (middle class = those who possess the goods of fortune in moderation; Aristotle) for everywhere in the world but the United States – for that matter Poverty in the United States sounds like riches to most of the world – but our cities are not islands of pleasantry, peace, and order. Yes, they are more peaceful than some places have been, but TV series like SOUTHLAND and The Shield show a different situation, as does the daily press. We have free schools, although most of us try to keep our children out of them – as do most teachers who can afford to do so. I know some LAUSD teachers who would rather stay home with the children, but who need the benefits and income so that their children can go to private or religious schools. And the results of the Catholic school system seem to be better than the results of LAUSD by a lot, despite LAUSD’s lavish spending per pupil.

Perhaps if we can limit the population through selection of those who area allowed to have children? Niven’s ARM series errs in that it shows overcrowding as the reason for the search for unlicensed children – you’re not approved for reproduction – but perhaps it is not overcrowding at all we need to avoid. Just don’t let criminals breed.

That hasn’t worked out all that well for China, but perhaps with American bureaucrats we can bring it off?

I pointed out to Niven that his single ships owned by the asteroid miners were each capable of destroying the earth if someone were angry enough to do that, and defense against that would take a lot more effort than is devoted to that job in the Known Space series; it’s one reason we don’t write in that universe when we work together. I have no solution to the problem of the mad scientist who wants to rule the world or destroy it – and who may have the means to do that. Captain Marvel was the solution to the problem of Dr. Sivana, but that is not a practical solution.

My Co-Dominium series tried to address some of these problems, but that wasn’t the emphasis of the stories, and I never did much with the theme. Now, with 3-d printers and cheap energy and Moore’s Law working inexorably it seems reasonable that just about any society with enough order and capital can provide a large part of the population with the means to live as Middle Class – without any work. We do not know if that will be stable.

We do suspect that Nothing is beyond the dreams of avarice.

And then there is UN’s Agenda 21 with its stated assumption that the society of plenty will only be possible if the world population is corrected back to 18th Century levels, with most of the survivors living highly regimented lives in "sustainable" arcologies to support the relatively few elites who will actually enjoy the perks of the society of plenty.

At least we know there will always be jobs for good soldiers. How we get them may not be as simple as most usually think. “Gold will not get you good soldiers, but good soldiers can always get you gold,” said Machiavelli. “See my armies, see how their bayonets gleam,” Napoleon said to Talleyrand. “Sire, you can do anything with a bayonet except sit upon it.” And as Ortega y Gasset observes, rule is not a matter of the iron hand, but the firm seat.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.