Excuse me if this is a reposting.
>----------
Jim Dator wrote:
But my concern is for those,
>who for whatever reason, do not want to be, or are unable to be,
>'knowledge' workers.
>
>Will there be a place for them in our future economy? Sure, you can
>retrain many workers, but we need decent jobs even for those who do
>not fit in to the ideal of the 21st century worker.
These two paragraphs indicate how strong our current paradigm is that self
worth comes from worthwhile employment. I would argue that we need decent
incomes for all rather than decent jobs for all. We have accepted as a
culture that not to work is to be not worthy. Yet others have posted and I
agree with them that in one way or the other everyone works. The Budda did
not have a job and yet to say his contribution to thought and philosophy was
worthless could be strongly argued. The idea behind this thread is to
accept the concept that there may not be monetized jobs for everyone - that
will, perhaps be, the "fact' of the 21st century. The question then
becomes, do we provide decent incomes for all or do we marginalize a
minority which if automation continues may become a majority.
>
>So the issue is not just automation. It is finding a place in our
>economy for everyone that rewards knowledge, effort and ability.
Again, I would argue that an economy is a device that we have invented.
Like any technology, it is subject to improvement. Perhaps we may find that
we require a way to invent an ecomomy in which something else is monetized
instead of labour.
>
>If we cannot find such a place, we will not have a sustainable
>economy, or a sustainable social system.
Again I might argue that our current concept of an economy is not
demonstrating either of your two criteria. If sustainability is the goal,
capitalism may not be the method or at least capitalism as is now
pracitised.
>
>If the industrialists will not learn this message, I hope that the
>public will elect politicians who do!
I do not think our solution will come from industrialists or from
politicians. I think our solution will come from re-educating the public to
think of what they want and then to demand that in a way that those in power
become powerless to refuse. That education can come from a disaster or it
can come from frustration with the inequalities of the present situation.
>
>Dennis Paull,
>Los Altos, CA
>
>Note! I am a well paid automation engineer.
Note I am not a well paid welfare recipient
