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Is it possible to create a political socioeconomic system in which nobody has to work?
Fantasy vanity | November 26, 2002 | Momaw Nadon

Posted on 11/26/2002 6:27:01 PM PST by Momaw Nadon

I hate my job. I wish I could live a comfortable life without having to work.

Can the best and brightest Freeper minds devise a way of life in which nobody has to work, yet we are all living comfortably?

There could be a technological solution to this problem.

What if we created intelligent robots to do our work for us, while we all relax and enjoy life?

The pace of advances in computer technology is increasing and a solution to the problem of having to go to work may occur in this century.

My hope is that we will all be able to live in a leisure class like the idle rich.

How can this be implemented?

Who would own the robots: individuals, the government, or corporations?

My challenge to all at Free Republic is to devise a Constitution of a political socioeconomic system in which nobody has to work but in which we are all wealthy.


Any takers?


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Technical; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: ai; automation; freedom; future; leisureclass; plantation; robot; roboticworker; slave; slavery; wealth; work
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To: Mark Felton
But you have earned nothing at all. By what right will you claim even 1 robot to clean your toilets?

Very good question.

I would have to first work to be able to afford the robot(s) that would then work for me.

Then I would be all set.

61 posted on 11/26/2002 7:09:40 PM PST by Momaw Nadon
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To: Always Right
" Isn't that the system Marx created? "

There is Marx who wished to create an egalitarian society so that all would be provided for. The only problem is that an elite group of rulers are required to assign who receives what benefits.

There is "Utopia" by Sir Thomas More, but that requires a benevolant King to make the same decisions as above.

There is the ideal society envisoned by Plato, but it requires supreme authority be vested in a few of the intellectually superior citizens to decide how to dispense the profits of a wealthy society.

62 posted on 11/26/2002 7:09:58 PM PST by Mark Felton
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To: Momaw Nadon
I wouldn't live in your do nothing society, I like to work.

I'm 65 now and hopefully I can still be working when i'm 80.
63 posted on 11/26/2002 7:10:25 PM PST by dalereed
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To: vikingchick; BuddhaBoy; Goetz_von_Berlichingen
Goetz I believe you said the movie was a documentary of your place of employment( well you said Office Space run by the Harkonnen family).

Judge: For the crime of gross embezzlement I sentence you Peter Gibbons to a term of no less than 4 years in federal pound me in the a** prison, you've led a trite and meaningless life, you're a very bad person.

64 posted on 11/26/2002 7:12:25 PM PST by weikel
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To: Momaw Nadon
Your best bet at the moment is to try to find a fulfilling job that you like.
65 posted on 11/26/2002 7:13:06 PM PST by Cicero
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To: Mark Felton
Marx just ripped off Plato he dressed it up in easier to understand propaganda and tried to make it sound more appealing.
66 posted on 11/26/2002 7:13:41 PM PST by weikel
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To: Momaw Nadon
"I would have to first work to be able to afford the robot(s) that would then work for me. Then I would be all set. "

But after you have worked, say, 1 year to afford a toilet cleaning robot you will need a robot to mow your yard?

Now go work another year....

After that you must have a robot who can earn money for you to buy your food and pay for your VR goggles...

How long will that take? Perhaps you can clean someone elses toilet (who cannot yet afford a robot) until you have enough money to pay for your own toliet cleaning robots?

67 posted on 11/26/2002 7:13:53 PM PST by Mark Felton
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To: dalereed
I wouldn't live in your do nothing society, I like to work.

In the kind of society we are discussing, human work is optional.

If you want to work, be my guest and go right ahead and work if that's what makes you happy.

68 posted on 11/26/2002 7:14:07 PM PST by Momaw Nadon
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To: weikel
That's right. I think he did also. He just removed the part about the small cadre of rulers required to make it all "work". He of course would be one of those rulers.
69 posted on 11/26/2002 7:15:37 PM PST by Mark Felton
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To: Momaw Nadon
Supposedly the South Sea islands were like that before the Westerners arrived. Always assuming you don't consider fishing work.
70 posted on 11/26/2002 7:15:40 PM PST by MoralSense
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To: Momaw Nadon
Who would monitor all the silly vanity posts?
71 posted on 11/26/2002 7:15:41 PM PST by JZoback
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To: Momaw Nadon
For those of you Freepers not wearing enough flair, here are a bunch of clickable buttons.
72 posted on 11/26/2002 7:15:52 PM PST by lds23
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To: Mark Felton
How long will that take?

I don't know.

The aim is to have enough robots to generate wealth for me and allow me to live a life of leisure.

73 posted on 11/26/2002 7:17:24 PM PST by Momaw Nadon
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To: Mark Felton
The sad thing is Marx wouldn't Marx was an employee of the same people behind the Wilson administration.
74 posted on 11/26/2002 7:18:27 PM PST by weikel
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To: Momaw Nadon
Your question is foolish. You cannot enjoy life without working. We were created to work, to create. Your question is akin to asking, "Can I enjoy the taste and texture of food without eating?"

Frankly, I think you may have a liberal mindset on the matter. Work is good, not evil. God created us to work ("Dress the Garden and keep it...") For the wise man, work is play.

If you don't like your work, find something you do like or make your own job by starting your own business (if you have the self-discipline and the guts). However, we do not always enjoy every aspect of work, nor should we expect to. However, we can enjoy the satisfaction which comes from a job done well and responsibly, even if we do not enjoy a particular job itself.

So, give up your false notions about work and get a life (and a job!).

75 posted on 11/26/2002 7:21:14 PM PST by white_wolf
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To: Momaw Nadon
Yeah, baby! It's hell, I'm tellin' ya, hell...

I think, to be halfway serious for a moment, that what will change is the nature of what we think of as "work," just as it has already changed. The percentage of a hunter-gatherer's day spent acquiring food was huge. The percentage of the average American salaried worker's day spent in the same pursuit is minimal by comparison. The bulk of his efforts these days go toward (1) shelter, ever fancier and more luxurious, and (2) the big one - amusement. Entertainment. It is no accident that athletes and actors are paid what they are paid, it's what the market will bear because the market is there. Good grief, people will work days on end to purchase boxes that put little lights on a phosphor or LED screen to simulate what people used to have to do to stay alive.

But I don't see most of us, the better part anyway, turning inward like that. The people who earn more money than they or their descendants can ever spend, continue to work, all of them. (Their descendants do not. Bummer for them.) We have a lot of work ahead of us as a species, and a very large universe to try to explore. And even those of us who stay kept, will be doing just what our own predecessors needed to do to survive, for fun.

So technology won't really do a lot for us except to change the nature of our work. Well, the orgasmatronic nuclear-powered penile implant, maybe, but that's it!

76 posted on 11/26/2002 7:21:28 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: Mark
If the country is a Republic like the U.S. AND controls the majority of a needed product, then the entire country could get say, a milion dollars per year per person and keep a strong military that would need a little more bucks....ok cut that down to 1/2 million.... ok back to the robots.. that's the military! We be in charge now.

Our defense budget is app. $350B now (being generous).

Our government budget is $1.2B per year.

We could take the $850B difference and allocate it to each person in the US now. That would be $32k per person per year for 265 million people including children.

So for a family of 5 that would be $160,000 per year.

Now then, WHY do we not do that today?

77 posted on 11/26/2002 7:24:07 PM PST by Mark Felton
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To: maro
Thus it shall ever be.

Using your imagination, can you envision any way of being able to live wealthily without having to work?

78 posted on 11/26/2002 7:24:41 PM PST by Momaw Nadon
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To: BuddhaBoy
Office Space was simply one of the best movies ever made.

I think the screenwriter screwed up by introducing the computer account theft angle. It was hilarious to see Peter rise higher in the company the less work he did - they should have just continued that theme until he became CEO.

79 posted on 11/26/2002 7:26:22 PM PST by Mr. Jeeves
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To: Momaw Nadon
"I really want to know if it is possible to devise a system in which we all live as though we have won the lottery."

Already devised. It's called 'welfare.'

80 posted on 11/26/2002 7:27:32 PM PST by Eastbound
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