Oh, I don't want to prevent progress. I just want the machines to provide for ALL of us, not just the one's in the fortunate position to be able to buy the software and robots, while the rest of us scrape by in an environment that has no jobs, while our governments try to pave the roads and fly the planes with no tax base.
Take away the greed and moralistic silliness, and there's no reason we can't create a society where software and robots provide for all our needs, and human beings can be freed to chase higher goals, like discovering the mysteries of the universe and creating great art.
I don't know how we get there from our wealth=royalty feudalism, but that's where we need to go.
I think human nature, being what it is, won't necessarily gravitate to great art and the exploration of the universe--- in mass, anyway. Maybe further off when genetics makes all of us brilliant, but until then I see a lot of mischief making on the agenda, and that's why it is good to have a society that doesn't honor idleness, but one that would gives us a means to make a living--a tolerable middle class living.
In any event, we need a political dialogue about the more immediate here and now and how to bring this about. I think we agree about that. |
