In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:09:21 -0500: Hi, [snip] >Unfortunately they are not working for "us" but only for the factory owners.
Unless we are all collectively the factory owners via our shareholdings. > > > >> >> We just change from actually doing the work ourselves to telling the >> machines >> what to do. > > >Two issues arise: > >1. Once you tell a machine what to do (program it), it never forgets and you >don't need to tell it again. Your job is finished. Good. :) Unfortunately my experience is that a programmer's job is never done. ;) [snip] >> Something we already do now e.g. when we drive a tractor rather than >> mowing grain by hand as we used to do. >> > >Tractors will soon drive themselves. Prototype robot driven tractors are >already in use. They do a better job than human drivers so, using less gas, >and distributing fertilizer and seed more effectively. Food factories are >almost entirely automated. Ford's website shows robots identifying ripe >strawberries and picking them without damaging them. That is something >humans find difficult to do. My analogy was just an example of how productivity improves with automation. ISO dozens of people being needed for the harvest, it is done by one person on a tractor. If that eventually becomes 0 people on a tractor, so much the better. My point was that rather than running out of work, we simply turn our attention to things we previously didn't have the time to do. I can foresee a future when someone might instruct their equipment to terraform a planet. And it's done with a single instruction. I also think it will be some time before that is possible. The arts will flourish as never before, and people will largely live a life of luxury. Star Trek is a good example of the sort of lifestyle that automation can make possible. With people spending their time exploring the galaxy and meeting new peoples. (As I suspect many of them already do). Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
