Report Card for Donald Trump

[Warren Dew]

(12-13-2016, 01:24 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(12-10-2016, 12:07 AM)Warren Dew Wrote: When agriculture was taken over by machines, somehow people still remained employed.  When ditch digging was taken over by machines, somehow the economy came up with the jobs.

The same will happen this time around.

This assumes that the economy can expand infinitely.  As agriculture died, industrial production increased to pick up the slack.  But this time, we're talking about machines that replace humans completely.  They no longer needed human operators or even maintenance personnel.  Other than the arts, what is uniquely human that will continue to have value?  Can we all be creatives?  I doubt it.  Most of us have zero inherent talent.

There's human creativity tied up in the design of every product, because the end users are humans.  There's also plenty of creativity in creating the software infrastructure for virtual products and services.  We may not all be able to be artists, but we all have some degree of useful creativity and mental flexibility that software doesn't yet have.  And that's aside from the fact that you're being overly optimistic regarding complete replacement of human operators and maintenance.

Quote:

Warren Dew Wrote:

Eric the Green Wrote:So the question is, what supports the economy, then? Who buys all the stuff and services that the machines churn out for us? And most of all, why should a few CEOs and a few engineers get ALL the fucking money for what the MACHINES produce? Who invented and built these machines? The workers, the people did. The people should get the rewards for this work-saving revolution.

Actually, the engineers built the machines, facilitated by the CEOs, and investors paid for the machines.

You ignored the real question to answer the softball that followed it.  The real question is still there.  Or we can simplify it to, how does the economy work with no need for human labor?  Most of us are not capitalists.

There will still be a need for human labor.  Even if CEOs and engineers were the only ones making money from manufacturing, they could consume plenty of services if they had the money to pay for it.