Opting out of humanity
How good do you feel? How good is your life? What do you desire in this world?
Are you beautiful, in good shape, healthy, wealthy? Do you have all you want, all of the money, toys and people you dream of. Is your life fulfilling?
Could it be better?
Imagine a world where you can have everything you desire, feel exactly how you wish, be in the best shape of your life. It is possible.
Soon.
As more and more jobs are consumed by technology, even though more are created to replace, I don't see there being enough for everyone that could work.
That leaves a severe unemployment issue that needs to be addressed. There are stop-gap measures in the short-term like, universal basic income (UBI), but these still require a huge shift in existing thinking and structure.
If you look at the fiasco and challenges faced with the affordable healthcare act in the United States and then multiply the requirements by about a thousand times or more, it gives an idea. That is not an accurate figure, just an illustration.
Some will say that it is not doable, but it will have to be attempted in some way, as if there are only jobs available for 25 percent of the population globally, there is going to be massive implications.
Now, the jobs that are available aren't likely to be the kind of job that one can just walk into, they are likely to be highly specialised jobs and idea generation jobs. The kind of work that not everyone enjoys or is suited for.
So what will the rest do?
Lets assume that there is a Universal Basic Income (UBI) in place and it can cover all of the basic requirements for life. It is unlikely to provide enough that there is limitless possibility.
For many in this world, whether they realise it or not, work provides a large proportion of their feelings of meaning and purpose as most feel that they are working towards something, even if that something is to be able to not have to go to work. Work gives a good reason to get up in the morning for many.
If we look at the trends in smoking percentage and obesity, there is a widening gap between the rich and the poor, where the less educated and less wealthy have higher rates of both. This obviously will also have effects on their children and their predispositions in later generations.
If we extrapolate the idea out to a situation where 75% of people have enough for basic needs but no way to get more for extras, we could assume that this gap will widen further.
Humans these days tend to favour enjoyment over health and when faced with a situation between the choice of fun or food, many choose fun by reducing the quality of food. The short-term feel good is soon replaced by the long-term illnesses and ailments that plague the malnourished and sedentary.
But as stated in the introduction, there may be a solution.
Everyone who so loves to be entertained, loves to spend their free time sitting in front of a screen and would gladly extend this time infinitely, why not provide them the opportunity?
The technology is fast approaching that will allow us to immerse ourselves both visually and physically into digital worlds through neurological networks.
In these worlds, we will be able to be whoever we choose to be, feel gifted, superhuman and as strong or as weak as we choose without having to leave the living room. In this cyberspace, we will feel more present and alive than the real world and may feel as if we are living the way we were always meant to, with meaning and purpose.
Superhero and X-men mutant concepts are popular and attractive for a reason, for as long as humans have had the ability to think about the future, we have wanted to extend what we currently have. This is how we evolved the technologies in the first place. We wanted to fly with the birds well before we were able to.
But in these worlds, everything is possible. It is likely that it can even make one feel intelligent by providing higher thoughts by mimicking the internal innovation process. Of course, this would not actually make one smarter necessarily, but perhaps make one feel more equal to the person who designed the system. The difference of course is that one actually designed it through their own thoughts while the other consumed a representation of ability.
Unplug a second and come back to reality.
There you are, sitting on your couch, no money, over weight, relatively unskilled and likely un-gifted in anyway. The government provides the basic necessities for you through the UBI, and your social network is in the same condition as you. You are wheezing, coughing and struggling to stand as the muscles in your spine have atrophied through lack of use. You pull yourself to your feet and get to a mirror, and witness first-hand what you have become.
Tell me, how long until you plug in again? How long until you choose to stay plugged in?
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
Under that scenario if seventy five percent of the population is receiving a basic UBI that enables them to just get by then it would only seem logical that those using technology that put that seventy five percent out of work could only utilize that technology at twenty five percent of it's capacity. Would they then also be limiting themselves to a self imposed UBI of their own that may pay better than a government UBI but still nowhere near where they could be if they hadn't made it so seventy five percent of the population can't buy their product.
100 percent receive a UBI which is what makes it universal. Universal doesn't mean everyone in the world though. For example, Finland (where I live) could implement it but Sweden might not. All Finns will get it, no Swedes.
The capacity comes from automaition and AI. The 75% aren't needed at all except as consumers.
Human skill levels are not being honed at the rate that we need to keep pace with the advancing technology. It is only a matter of time that this difference will manifest for all to see in our everyday lives. Right now we only have data and statistics but soon the naked eye will see this effect.
It has been happening for a while now and it went unnoticed by most until people started realizing that university education was becoming obsolete. The courses being taught had nothing to do with the industry the students wanted to get in.
Then there is the secondary effect - the lazy human. As traditional means of income shuts down, the average Joe dosen't know what to do after that.
I agree and by then for most, it will be too late to adjust.
For these people, the UBI will be more than a support, it will be everything, much like those who are long-term unemployed and living off social allowances.
That is a certainty and it will only repeater the cycle further
Why would you be in poor shape if you're plugged in via a neural link all the time? If such a neural link is possible wouldn't it make sense to feed the body in the real world with only the best possible nutrition and have it exercise regularly using the same type of neural link technology that allows for full immersion into a virtual reality? The trouble with scenarios like this is that with accelerating technological development such scenarios are short-lived at best if at all likely. Any particular dystopic reality is a snapshot of a more or less potential chain of events leading to future potentials increasingly hard to even imagine.
Another thing is that I'm pretty sure that we will all end up equally useless eventually and the time it takes from a half of us having become useless to all of us having become useless is relatively short. None of us have a good reason to feel superior to those opt to fully immerse themselves into a fantasy worlds. There isn't much difference between a former pillar of society and a dreg when they're in diapers in a nursing home. That's what the future of humanity will look like: a giant nursing home for the entire species. Babies will be born straight into uselessness akin to senility when everything is run by general artificial superintelligence.
Potentially but I would say it will depend on who develops it whether this is something they want to progress or not.
Any look at a moment in time is snapshot in a chain of events but it can give a look at in which direction the next link could be added. The invention and ability to harness nuclear energy didn't require Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Yep, I think so too. Once the real AIs come in, there is not much we are able to do. I don't care about annihilation of our species, but there is likely even potential for enslavement or flourishing at this point. Which it is is going to depend on how they are created.
For starters... I don't believe automation will make jobs disappear. Automation has happened since the industrial revolution and it has only generated more jobs than taken. Yeah, the old jobs disappeared, but new jobs started coming up to cover for the free-time effects of the industrial revolution. As long as people keep innovating and wanting to make a good bit of money on the current state of society, new jobs will keep being created. Maybe it is a robot waiter that will bring you your drinks while you are a couch potato, but a lot of human hours will be needed before that robot will see the light...
I am a strong believer in the UBI as a freedom giver. It will give people the opportunity to turn their hobbies into jobs. And it may not pay that much, but that doesn't really matter. Human nature wants to not sit still but do something. It is only depression that makes people want to plug into a virtual life, do nothing but being entertained and stay there. I believe freedom and creativity are depression killers... And so people will always unplug.
Humans can do two things, physical and mental. In the past much of the physical moved into the mental or less physical as automation took over the heavy lifting. AI will be able to control and handle both aspects better than us.
When it happens, it will happen swiftly.
And, depression is on the live as people become disconnected and more sedentary.
I do too yet, observation doesn't show a lot of creativity in the average thinker.
lack of creativity in the case of the average thinker could just be a result of their mind-numbing jobs that they are currently in. Or the stress they are in to make ends meet. We might not all be creative so that we turn into painters, but I do believe people in general are creative enough to come up with new and different things to do.
When we zoom into the mental part of what humans can do and AI can take over, it makes sense to make a distinction between some different parts of that. For instance: Empathy. This is something that can't be achieved with AI and is a very important aspect of some jobs, like police officers (although they might not look that empathic in some countries). Other things are creativity, judgment and there probably are more. I foresee a switch to more jobs coming up in those areas as a result of AI. With the epidemic of depression that you talk about a logical result would be an increase in psychotherapists ;)
If people were more creative, why did they wind up in mind-numbing jobs? Einstein was a patent clerk so he had time to think.
Empathy is programmable as it reads environmental signals. It is only a matter of time. Compassion is likely the greater trait though as it comes with action to act to ease suffering without requiring a personal connection.
At first I think you are right but it won't take long for an AI to create a better AI.
Maybe the increase in psychotherapists are driving the depression rates ;)
We're all doomed!! :D
In some ways we are our own worst enemy. Medical advances haven't helped as the population booms and lives longer. No massive wars with huge infantry losses helping to keep the population down.
This will be the first time that the world will face a crisis like this and who knows how it is going to pan out. teething problems for sure as UBI will be tweaked per country surely. The cost of living in Finland against the cost of living in Costa Rica will be quite a big difference I am sure. This is not a straight forward system and I wouldn't know what the answer would be.
For many, they don't see the crisis because it hasn't happened yet. If a general intelligence is born, it will all move swiftly.
Lol You are offering us the blue pill/red pill choice from "The Matrix," and, from your article, I'm genuinely not sure which you suggest we pick.
I think you are suggesting the blue pill (dream world) for the unemployable, and the red pill (real life) for the techies.
The problem with this is that folks will know they are in a dream. Dreams only sustain us when we don't know that. 💊 :)
I don't suggest, I predict that there will be some who will welcome not having to do much and others who will welcome being able to do more than they current are able.
"With a million dollars I would..." while they go about their repetitive job doing nothing much that is going to lead them to ever having a million dollars but, they keep adding to the GDP.
I came into this world never desiring much and I still don’t to this day. I just want to find and create opportunity to try and get somewhere in life. I want to have a moral backbone and be able to live with my actions for what income I am able to earn.
I’m not a very smart person. I never expect to be rich and quite frankly I don’t know how things are going shape with automation affecting so many including myself before I could even create my own opportunity being forced a few times to try something else and new.
Everyone keeps talking about UBI. Quite frankly I think some very dark days are ahead of use before such a thing is created. I also don’t want to be given dependence on something. I want earn opportunity and choice.
Will I make it past the dark days till some magical unicorn comes and saves the masses: I don't know. The area I live in is not great. I have a backpacking backup ready to go and some basic survival skills that are quite outdated.
I think I would rather just keep trying. That really is the only choice in life. That other choice many will choose is a dark hole I rather not think about. I’ve lost many in my life as they have given up and I will lose many more.
This is the thing with it. Some will use it as a support to do more, some a crutch to limp and survive upon. It is potentially still freeing for some while enslaving others.
Yes, we all do the best we can with what we have (skills/knowledge, genetics etc) but there are some who are looking to add a little more each day so that they can increase their potential or at least, use more of it.
I find that life is becoming one of increasing survival where there are thosing fighting to live and many giving up to subsist only. It is much like we see at Steem, many don't have the longevity to struggle for more thana few weeks. What do they do in the real world?
I’ve known people who just show up only when there where bills to be paid otherwise they just skip out. I’ve also known people who bash there head on the wall for as long as they can stand.
Companies needing to cut hours sometimes keep the first type around. They already know they won’t show up for all there hours scheduled and then they can just blame it on that person. Oh they did not show up again guess you will have to do their work as well. Even when people are lazy they have a purpose in the system depending on whose running the show.
I think it angers the person who keeps ending up with more work than expected and still they have to complete it within their normal allotted time. While that might motivate some to try and find better. Sadly sometimes that just the best they can do.
I've known many call centers and other similar things to just have non-paid time off. Every day if they where not getting the amount of expected volume they just ask if anyone wanted to volunteer to go home. Some people can't wait to raise there hand fast enough. Some times after they get a paycheck and realize they made next to nothing they have that "this is not enough" moment.
I think many will have that moment when steem skyrockets and they have not been around. Expect unlike a job where you get 35 hours next week despite only working 15 of them. It be to late for them here.
They can also be publicly fired to add a dose of fear.
I know lots of these people and when they get passed up for promotion and opportunity, they complain.
Not too late but, nowhere near where they could have been
Lol Taraz, maybe you're over thinking this one. I doubt work will be substituted in the future, despite all we hear. It will be disaster if there are no tangible alternatives to a system of work and it phases out. Then again, I doubt it ever will
This is why I feel nothing significant will change. What we do is basically who we are
Assuming governments and corporations are the likely organisation and foundation builders in this, what do you think will happen? :D
An alternate path and the one I prefer is where work is largely no longer required and essentially, we can do what we want as humans come to understand that freedom and flourishing could be our natural state of existence. I count the chances of this happening fairly slim in the first rounds. Like here, most of the problems would exist if distribution was better but, greed is also a human trait and the enlightenment position of just enough is blockaded by the a scarcity mindset and fear of loss of whatever one is attached to.
I wonder if you watched the movie called Ready Player One? I think you will enjoy it, or if you want to see a more serious approach to a similar idea, check a Black Mirror episode called San Junipero.
But this idea of preferring to live our lives inside an online world can be attractive to a lot of people, maybe one day it will become a reality.
Have you read about the simulation theory?
Haven't seen the movie (or many movies in the last few years for that matter)but will give it a go if I ever have a chance :)
Not really but I have heard enough and though about it a fair bit. It is possible I think.
I reckon many people would happily forget their real-world worries in favour of immersion. Many do it now in much more rudimentary ways.
UBI is very valid. I work in aerospace and its all being automated. What will those highly skilled guys do? Then I go to the doctor and see automated kiosks.