Posted on 10/31/2025 11:40:53 PM PDT by RandFan
@MJTruthUltra
Crazy times…
Elon Musk says eventually “Working will be Optional”, and everyone will be given a Universal High-Income
- Jobs, where there is no physical work involved, will be eliminated first.
- working will be optional because of robots and AI
(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...
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I'm not saying that work shouldn't change with technology. I'm saying that taking away ALL work, as many in Silicon Valley think is going to happen, would be deadly for humanity.
BTW, I don't think technology—robots or AI—is going to take away human work. I think it is going to transform us and our work.
Speaking of SciFi fantasies, consider the original story on which The Day the Earth Stood Still movie was based (Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates), the surprise ending was the realization that the robot was the master, and the humans were the slaves. The movie changed that around for reasons of political correctness during the cold war years.
This is something to consider if Musk’s robots begin to take over.
The Star Trek economy!
I suspect Elon’s been binge watch SciFi again .... the final episode of the HBO series Silicon Valley.
I think Elon is way too optimistic about AI.
AI doesn’t replace people anymore than computers replace people. It will increase what people can do. It will allow ordinary people to do what previously only specialists could do. Inventive entrepreneurial people will use it to do things not possible before, which people maybe never even thought of before. But in the end it’s just a tool.
The worst thing we could do would be to pay people to do nothing. We’re already doing it, and it infantilizes people and traps them on the bottom.
Pretty amazing our government is speeding up and subsidizing the AI development to eradicate inefficient human labor in certain areas.
There is a shift in the economy that people cannot comprehend. The human aspect of work will be phased out in many sectors. Why do you think tech bros aligned with Trump? The advancements in tech is so fast that many areas of human work will be lessened.
That is point of the billions and billions in spending by companies to tech advancements; eliminate costs and the human edge in work.
We have our government joining forces with powerful groups that want to eliminate the human inefficiency, good luck.
Actually, the UBI universal basic income, will come with conditions. From what I have heard individuals will be required to contribute SOMETHING, to recieve TOKENS with which to purchase goods. Think of FDRs works to keep men employed. Instead of money...tokens.
Working has always been optional. The question is, what are the other options.
No. Maslow’s Heirachy of Needs. I guess they don’t teach that anymore either.
Heart of Darkness? Is that another game for people who can’t grow up?
It already is for 42 million.
It’s a novel by Joseph Conrad.
I don’t read novels.
“Wings Over The World!’’
...and the merchant class will suck all of that up and then some. Money has no value when it is free.
Something to do, I guess.
Don't be so sure about that. Machines can be explicitly designed for each problem domain.
Simple in the grand scheme of things, really. The ladders will be replaced with tracks that the repair robots can travel upon. Flying drones will be used for unexpected circumstances. The towers will be designed for automated maintenance rather than manual.
I suspect you did not grow up in that era when computers did indeed replace droves of office staff.
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