Luminescence
@digital-art.bsky.social
Digital art and purely human fiction, found in an endless summer
Location: Chicago
Url
https://xzhx366pi9ujvx8j4nv2fiog1qt8zj9z7r5r889hn.wordpress.com/g27l30yco5clco6e1q5jscmmrnfocd/
Location: Chicago
Url
https://xzhx366pi9ujvx8j4nv2fiog1qt8zj9z7r5r889hn.wordpress.com/g27l30yco5clco6e1q5jscmmrnfocd/
Some of us even go so far as to separate it, before putting it into the wash.
January 17, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Some of us even go so far as to separate it, before putting it into the wash.
If one has free time, and has the prosperity needed for a pleasant life, why would one need to be paid to take a hike through the mountains, or to play basketball with one's friends?
Are these not things that many would gladly do on their own, in the absence of any economic incentives to do so?
Are these not things that many would gladly do on their own, in the absence of any economic incentives to do so?
January 17, 2025 at 8:02 PM
If one has free time, and has the prosperity needed for a pleasant life, why would one need to be paid to take a hike through the mountains, or to play basketball with one's friends?
Are these not things that many would gladly do on their own, in the absence of any economic incentives to do so?
Are these not things that many would gladly do on their own, in the absence of any economic incentives to do so?
If that sounds like Socialism, good, because that's exactly what it would be: a democratic sort of Socialism.
Why would there be less physical activity in a world in which those who made the economic decisions that shaped so much of our lives were answerable to the people?
Why would there be less physical activity in a world in which those who made the economic decisions that shaped so much of our lives were answerable to the people?
January 17, 2025 at 7:59 PM
If that sounds like Socialism, good, because that's exactly what it would be: a democratic sort of Socialism.
Why would there be less physical activity in a world in which those who made the economic decisions that shaped so much of our lives were answerable to the people?
Why would there be less physical activity in a world in which those who made the economic decisions that shaped so much of our lives were answerable to the people?
In either case, the tax burden would be shifted upward, onto the shoulders of the rich people who were in a position to respond to those tax-driven incentives to expand those private foundations.
January 17, 2025 at 7:58 PM
In either case, the tax burden would be shifted upward, onto the shoulders of the rich people who were in a position to respond to those tax-driven incentives to expand those private foundations.
One would expand government hiring until covered those who weren't already in the employ of private foundations. If those who were supporting all of that with their taxes wanted to see their taxes cut, they could either have their foundations hire more people, or they could suck it up and cope.
January 17, 2025 at 7:56 PM
One would expand government hiring until covered those who weren't already in the employ of private foundations. If those who were supporting all of that with their taxes wanted to see their taxes cut, they could either have their foundations hire more people, or they could suck it up and cope.
Pre-Reagan, scientists would usually do so either by working for universities, government labs or research facilities funded by private groups, which would suggest an answer to the question of how to keep make life livable in a world with all of the tedious jobs being done by robot.
January 17, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Pre-Reagan, scientists would usually do so either by working for universities, government labs or research facilities funded by private groups, which would suggest an answer to the question of how to keep make life livable in a world with all of the tedious jobs being done by robot.
That more capitalistic approach produced centuries worth of stagnation, then, and it is producing decades worth of misery and despair, now.
The new approach made rapid progress possible, but it wasn't really Capitalism and it raises a question. When one gives away one's work, how does one get paid?
The new approach made rapid progress possible, but it wasn't really Capitalism and it raises a question. When one gives away one's work, how does one get paid?
January 17, 2025 at 7:48 PM
That more capitalistic approach produced centuries worth of stagnation, then, and it is producing decades worth of misery and despair, now.
The new approach made rapid progress possible, but it wasn't really Capitalism and it raises a question. When one gives away one's work, how does one get paid?
The new approach made rapid progress possible, but it wasn't really Capitalism and it raises a question. When one gives away one's work, how does one get paid?
This worked for the development of ideas in a way that nothing else would, as the history of Science and Mathematics did during the Middle Ages, when those who developed results charged others for their results (as opposed to their time).
January 17, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This worked for the development of ideas in a way that nothing else would, as the history of Science and Mathematics did during the Middle Ages, when those who developed results charged others for their results (as opposed to their time).
This, until the rightwads decided to make the world a "better place," was more or less how Science was done. All results were shared with everybody for free. No researcher would dream of asking to be paid to share his research results with others.
January 17, 2025 at 7:43 PM
This, until the rightwads decided to make the world a "better place," was more or less how Science was done. All results were shared with everybody for free. No researcher would dream of asking to be paid to share his research results with others.
But if I have an idea, I can give it to both of you, and I'll still have it to give to others.
A society in which we're contributing by sharing our thoughts will function best when we share them with each other, for free.
A society in which we're contributing by sharing our thoughts will function best when we share them with each other, for free.
January 17, 2025 at 7:41 PM
But if I have an idea, I can give it to both of you, and I'll still have it to give to others.
A society in which we're contributing by sharing our thoughts will function best when we share them with each other, for free.
A society in which we're contributing by sharing our thoughts will function best when we share them with each other, for free.
Capitalism grew out of the need to efficiently allocate scarce resources, but an idea is never a scarce resource in the sense that, say, a piece of iron or a bushel of corn would be. If I had you a bushel of corn, I can't then hand it over to somebody else.
January 17, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Capitalism grew out of the need to efficiently allocate scarce resources, but an idea is never a scarce resource in the sense that, say, a piece of iron or a bushel of corn would be. If I had you a bushel of corn, I can't then hand it over to somebody else.
An economy in which all of the routine, tedious work has been automated would be a post-scarcity economy in which what most of us would be producing would be information and ideas.
The problem is so many people won't let go on George W. Bush' incoherent idea of a knowledge-based capitalism.
The problem is so many people won't let go on George W. Bush' incoherent idea of a knowledge-based capitalism.
January 17, 2025 at 7:36 PM
An economy in which all of the routine, tedious work has been automated would be a post-scarcity economy in which what most of us would be producing would be information and ideas.
The problem is so many people won't let go on George W. Bush' incoherent idea of a knowledge-based capitalism.
The problem is so many people won't let go on George W. Bush' incoherent idea of a knowledge-based capitalism.
Seriously, that used to be a real job. Good thing that one doesn't exist any more, isn't it?
Automation only has to be a nightmare if it is used indiscriminately, and if too many people refuse to adjust their political ideas to the new reality.
Automation only has to be a nightmare if it is used indiscriminately, and if too many people refuse to adjust their political ideas to the new reality.
January 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Seriously, that used to be a real job. Good thing that one doesn't exist any more, isn't it?
Automation only has to be a nightmare if it is used indiscriminately, and if too many people refuse to adjust their political ideas to the new reality.
Automation only has to be a nightmare if it is used indiscriminately, and if too many people refuse to adjust their political ideas to the new reality.
It doesn't have to mean less jobs. It could mean a world in which we all get to have jobs we love, and nobody has to be settle for being the guy who gets lowered into the slag pit at the steel mill, so he can scoop it out until his burns are too severe for him to continue.
January 17, 2025 at 7:30 PM
It doesn't have to mean less jobs. It could mean a world in which we all get to have jobs we love, and nobody has to be settle for being the guy who gets lowered into the slag pit at the steel mill, so he can scoop it out until his burns are too severe for him to continue.
But Math loves you and wants to have your children. Why won't you love it back?
January 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
But Math loves you and wants to have your children. Why won't you love it back?
You know, since we're living in the future.
January 17, 2025 at 7:25 PM
You know, since we're living in the future.
It would take relatively little space and could be done relatively cheaply. Produce this, and people will buy it.
That is the sort of project that is worth doing. Not laundry folders, or self-lacing shoes, or those flying anti-gravity cars we were supposed to have by now.
That is the sort of project that is worth doing. Not laundry folders, or self-lacing shoes, or those flying anti-gravity cars we were supposed to have by now.
January 17, 2025 at 7:24 PM
It would take relatively little space and could be done relatively cheaply. Produce this, and people will buy it.
That is the sort of project that is worth doing. Not laundry folders, or self-lacing shoes, or those flying anti-gravity cars we were supposed to have by now.
That is the sort of project that is worth doing. Not laundry folders, or self-lacing shoes, or those flying anti-gravity cars we were supposed to have by now.
There's a real need that product would answer, because second and third shift people often have to sleep during the day and end up getting low grade sleep, because even with curtains and drapes in place, light will stream in.
Also, apartment buildings usually don't have rods for drapes.
Also, apartment buildings usually don't have rods for drapes.
January 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
There's a real need that product would answer, because second and third shift people often have to sleep during the day and end up getting low grade sleep, because even with curtains and drapes in place, light will stream in.
Also, apartment buildings usually don't have rods for drapes.
Also, apartment buildings usually don't have rods for drapes.
Here's an obvious example of a product that, unlike the one mentioned above, would make sense, and probably could be created relatively easily: a thin cover for a window that turns opaque on command (say, with the push of a button).
January 17, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Here's an obvious example of a product that, unlike the one mentioned above, would make sense, and probably could be created relatively easily: a thin cover for a window that turns opaque on command (say, with the push of a button).
Golden ages produce amazing toys. Dark ages, of necessity, are focused more on needs.
A prudent engineer will notice this, and adjust his plans accordingly, asking himself what it is that the customer really can't do perfectly well on his own, and focus on that.
A prudent engineer will notice this, and adjust his plans accordingly, asking himself what it is that the customer really can't do perfectly well on his own, and focus on that.
January 17, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Golden ages produce amazing toys. Dark ages, of necessity, are focused more on needs.
A prudent engineer will notice this, and adjust his plans accordingly, asking himself what it is that the customer really can't do perfectly well on his own, and focus on that.
A prudent engineer will notice this, and adjust his plans accordingly, asking himself what it is that the customer really can't do perfectly well on his own, and focus on that.
Seriously, when the work force is moving away from the places where work used to be because it has long since given up on finding work, and this is true at almost all levels of education, that's not the start of a golden age.
That's a societal collapse.
That's a societal collapse.
January 17, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Seriously, when the work force is moving away from the places where work used to be because it has long since given up on finding work, and this is true at almost all levels of education, that's not the start of a golden age.
That's a societal collapse.
That's a societal collapse.
Pessimism that is likely to seem at least a little prophetic as millions spread out from the cities they can no longer afford, because what we're seeing right now looks a lot like the start of a dark age. Past a certain point, the only replacement parts might be the ones we make for ourselves.
January 17, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Pessimism that is likely to seem at least a little prophetic as millions spread out from the cities they can no longer afford, because what we're seeing right now looks a lot like the start of a dark age. Past a certain point, the only replacement parts might be the ones we make for ourselves.