[Ellendra]

Is there any way to run a world in which there is very little economic demand for services most people are capable of providing other than redistribution by the government?

I've been pondering that issue for a while now, myself. I see at work every day what happens when someone tries to do a job that they, quite frankly, don't have the intelligence for. The shake-outs get ugly, but because there's so much legal and political pressure to keep people on, the result is a long, drawn-out battle, with the morale of the whole floor taking a hit.

There has got to be some kind of dignified work for people who are dumber than doornails.

[Sherman Logan]

I agree, and it’s not just those who are dumber than doornails.

This is an ongoing and accelerating process. At some point people who are not stupid at all but who are engineers and programmers will start falling out the bottom of the economy.

I think the process is operating on something like Moore’s Law. It’s exponential and will soon become very rapid and noticeable indeed as the exponent really kicks in.

I think this will in some ways be the most profound transition in human history, all of which has been built on an economy of scarcity. We’re approaching an economy of abundance, when there is lots and lots of stuff, most of it free or very cheap indeed.