From diplomacy to politics
and current affairs
Photo of Himalayas from Tibet
Our future slave economyWell, now that I have your attention, try not to jump to unflattering conclusions. I’m not advocating human slavery, or even animal slavery. I’m not defending such slavery either. What I am doing is making some realistic observations about human slavery, before getting to the main point of my discourse on what I regard unashamedly as the virtue of a new form of slavery.
Human slavery, as practiced for thousands of years, was an economic system that generally predated the industrial revolution. Slaves were the capital goods of that era. They were the producers for those who owned them. Before slavery, when an enemy was captured on the field of battle they were killed. Slavery, was therefore a win-win compromise for both the victor and the vanquished. The victor gained an unsalaried laborer and the slave gained his life. It wasn’t by any means a fair trade, but it was better than the alternative. In the mean time the owner feared he’d lose his slave and the slave hoped he’d regain his freedom. The kind of slavery I am writing about lies in the future. It is inevitable, inescapable and arguably, could be essential. It will make a great difference to the lives of those who own such slaves. It will ensure tremendous scientific and social progress, and will enrich the lives of millions of human beings everywhere. And it will do so without exploiting or hurting other human beings. I am referring to artificial intelligence, automatons, robots and androids. Manufactured beings with the ability to do anything and everything work-related, that flesh and blood humans can do. They will be our future slaves, performing the many tasks we shall no longer be required to do. Presumably there would be child-minder robots, companion robots, household chore robots, industrial robots, construction robots, mining robots, law enforcement robots, military robots, translator robots, manufacturing robots, farming robots, transportation robots, engineering robots, teaching robots, medical robots and many more types of robot designed for specific and necessary tasks. Robots would also continuously design and manufacture new generations of robots. They would also repair and maintain themselves. In a future world with very, very limited opportunities for human beings to work for financial compensation, more than 95 percent of the world’s potentially economically productive population will be unemployed. This means they will have no means to earn an income, which they would need to do unless of course every necessity and luxury were free. Let’s consider that possibility. Living in a world with no financial currency. Would such a world be economically, socially and politically viable? Perhaps. If mining robots were to extract raw materials from forests, quarries, mines, oceans and even our solar system’s moons, planets, asteroids and comets, then manufactory robots could create all the components we need, and industrial robots could create the manufactured products we want, from houses to food, clothing, luxury items, and health products. Every necessity and service would be available to all of us without charge. Money would become unnecessary and therefore, redundant. It would become a mere historical curiosity. However, if human beings still use a monetary currency two or three decades from now, then we can safely assume it will be in the form of electronically generated credits. In an envisaged future slave economy, individuals, families, communities, entrepreneurs, industrialists, towns, cities and countries, will all own or have access to “slave” robots that they can utilize, or rent out to earn an additional income if they have a need or opportunity to do so. Such private and public incomes would then continue to finance the government through taxes and other forms of public funding. A third possibility, in a world of intelligent robots where practically all human beings are no longer gainfully employed, is that governments (or perhaps a single world government) might decide to issue electronic credits to human beings, much like a monthly pension payment. Such credits would be automatically generated at the end of each month by a central computer. Such electronic credits would provide financial security for the Earth’s people, and also serve as a means of control by government to ensure that individual human beings purchase only what they require or desire. A fundamental difference between tomorrow’s world of artificial intelligence and today’s predominant reliance on human intelligence, is that humans of the future would no longer pay taxes and that computer generated credits (the same amount for everybody) would serve the purpose of restricting consumption rather than the traditional usage of financial compensation. In a world of intelligent robots there will no longer be trade unions, or conventional mass human work forces. The era of intelligent robots will effectively usher in the dawn of a totally new economic system, based predominantly on a technologically advanced slave economy, sustained almost exclusively by human-like mechanical creations with artificial intelligence. As elaborated above, we can also expect a super-advanced post-human financial system, that will effectively liberate human beings from dependency on the traditional capitalist economic model. The modern mechanical slave economy will be unavoidably socialist in form. There will be very few opportunities for displays of individuality. Modernity would, in fact, be a trade-off for reduced individualism, but greater security, mobility and leisure. Human slavery was cruel, both physically and mentally. However, slave robots will be programmed to carry out instructions and perform certain tasks. Of course, they will not have emotions of any kind. The only income they earn would be for the benefit of their owners. Yes, they would be slaves; but they would also be machines, or labour-saving devices, designed to make life good for human beings, who would then be free to pursue a happier, less stressful more intellectually stimulating life. An artistically and technologically innovative existence not unlike the lifestyles that became possible during the times of the ancient city states of Athens and Rome, and those of the later Italian renaissance. Ultimately, millions of intelligent robots will exist as physical and thinking extensions of their owners. They will perform many of the tasks their owners used to carry out, leaving human beings to devote their newly available free time to their families, hobbies, sport, adventure, travel and intellectual pursuits. That’s a further trade-off we should all be able to live with. It is a lifestyle our children and grand children will one day come to take for granted. What do you think? Duke Kent-Brown p.s. Get a free sample of my new book "DIPLOMATIC NOTES - Memoirs of a Diplomat". Click here >>> Web: www.Duke-Kent-Brown.tk
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
December 2017
Categories
All
|