how do you get out this group thing ?
>________________________________ > From: James <[email protected]> >To: [email protected] >Sent: Tuesday, October 2, 2012 10:26 PM >Subject: Re: Mind's Eye thought experiments > >Well it is far worse (or better depending on who is looking at it), many of >the older trades and crafts-people I've met had an appreciation for seeing >their work as an artform. That would be my robot heaven, working toward a >world where we can all pursue meaning and purposeful work without the burden >of resource scarcity. What would it matter that someone wants to be a plumber >or architect in a day when those positions are obsolete, if that is pursuing >meaning, it would matter little more than what restaurant someone likes to the >next guy. In a world that valued human contribution it might be a plus, there >is a name associated with the foundation of my home, or certain furniture or I >tweaked my engine to respond exactly the way I like in a curve, finding a way >to shield a planet from gamma radiation, optimizing resource allocations in >complex evolving environments from nanotech on up to transport vessels for >interplanetary mining and settlement, etc.. >Back to the present time and scale there is the matter of plotting a course of >innovation by meeting challenges. >Laziness might be a challenge, and frailty, I haven't met many people who have >had to wash clothes in a bathtub complain about the advancement of the washing >machine, or get whimsical about enduring ailments we've found remedies or >therapies for. We seem to be in a transitional stage, not quite coming to >grips with the world we could create. Psychology is important to survival, >nonproductive time as some call it, I eye some of them as suspect sociopaths. >Being motivated can be very rewarding, it is too bad that out word for >meaningfully motivated is "naive". I'm taking the long way 'round with this. > > >On 9/19/2012 5:56 PM, archytas wrote: >> Thought experiments are devices of the imagination used to investigate >> the nature of things. Thought experimenting often takes place when the >> method of variation is employed in entertaining imaginative >> suppositions. They are used for diverse reasons in a variety of areas, >> including economics, history, mathematics, philosophy, and physics. >> Most often thought experiments are communicated in narrative form, >> sometimes through media like a diagram. Thought experiments should be >> distinguished from thinking about experiments, from merely imagining >> any experiments to be conducted outside the imagination, and from >> psychological experiments with thoughts. They should also be >> distinguished from counterfactual reasoning in general, as they seem >> to require an experimental element. >> http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thought-experiment/ >> >> One I like is the notion of robot heaven. It's easy enough to imagine >> a time when machines grow our food, build our shelter and do our >> work. The interesting stuff comes in thinking what this would mean >> for wealth distribution and the nature of society. What work would be >> left to do? One can also wonder what place any of our work ethics >> would have in such a society. There may be some deconstructive effect >> on just what current work ideologies are in place for. >> >> One of the great improvements technology brought to my life is more or >> less never having to go into a bank. The only real innovations in >> banking are the ATM and electronic banking. This kind of technology >> and similar in agriculture and industry fundamentally reduce the >> amount of human effort to grow and make what we need. We are in >> partial state of robot heaven. >> >> Our ideologies are not up to speed. Real unemployment is massive and >> education does little to provide job skills. We are sold life-styles >> and products by insane advertising. Job creation seems to be in >> perverse areas like financial services or bringing back attended gas- >> pumps. With more efficient production we should be able to afford a >> bigger social sector and I can't for the life of me understand why we >> allow competition through crap wages and conditions. >> >> A great deal of what we pay for could be available more or less free. >> Educational content and utility banking are examples - these are areas >> that could be ratinalised like agriculture and manufacturing. >> Millions of jobs would go. We should be asking why jobs are so >> central to out thinking on wealth distribution and how we might >> encourage work without the rat race. >> > >-- > > > > > --
