Minimum Wage Sucks Because

[Speaker to Animals]

I believe the line is usually something like "richest country in the history of time because we have iPhones".

What makes that quip especially good is that it's true.

It's really quite amazing to me that people can live in America today, only to look at the tiny fraction of humanity that has it better than them and complain.

You can live on a fixed income and you are living better than most aristocracy in all of human history. You already will live better than most people alive today.

But because they can't have even more they think the world is against them. If they would just look at it objectively, they'd see our "plutocracy" is downright beneficent as such things go.

I am not saying we shouldn't always look to improve things for the most people. We obviously should. But we shouldn't do so from a position where we bemoan our condition. That's just pathetic.

[Zlaxer]

[T]he Luddite reflexive position regarding automation is contrary to history and observable human behavior. Automation creates more products, not more leisure time. As much as starry-eyed dreamers have loved to wax poetic about grown ups sitting around singing folk songs all day for centuries, it turns out people would rather have pick-up trucks, cheeseburgers, clean drinking water, computers, iPhones, and medication. viewtopic.php?p=67968#p67968

That quote assumes that AI is the equivalent of the industrial revolution.....I don't think its the same. Last time, most of the jobs a horse was capable of performing were replaced by engines......this time, we are the horse........What's the horse population of America today as compared to per-autombile?

I don't understand why you think automation will create "enough new jobs."

[Fife]

Products, son, new products.

People naturally like working to make new and better products.

Now if we have some kind of Nick Bostrom-type singularity and the nanobots terraform the planet in silicon, all that could change, I guess. But I don't think the UBI will be much relief in that case, either.

[Ex-California]

Products, son, new products.

People naturally like working to make new and better products.

Now if we have some kind of Nick Bostrom-type singularity and the nanobots terraform the planet in silicon, all that could change, I guess. But I don't think the UBI will be much relief in that case, either.

Fife, don't you know that all innovation has ended in this current year?

[Zlaxer]

Products, son, new products.

People naturally like working to make new and better products.

Now if we have some kind of Nick Bostrom-type singularity and the nanobots terraform the planet in silicon, all that could change, I guess. But I don't think the UBI will be much relief in that case, either.

I don't get what you mean - products? - AI will be able to figure out what people want and be able to make it quicker than any human could....it's already happening with CPU design.....Also, you can't rely on an economic model with a large population in which 50% of the proles have to earn a living by inventing new products....

I don't like UBI - because it concentrates more power with the state - but I don't see a way around it unless you start shrinking the population.

[Ex-California]

Products, son, new products.

People naturally like working to make new and better products.

Now if we have some kind of Nick Bostrom-type singularity and the nanobots terraform the planet in silicon, all that could change, I guess. But I don't think the UBI will be much relief in that case, either.

I don't get what you mean - products? - AI will be able to figure out what people want and be able to make it quicker than any human could....it's already happening with CPU design.....Also, you can't rely on an economic model with a large population in which 50% of the proles have to earn a living by inventing new products....

I don't like UBI - because it concentrates more power with the state - but I don't see a way around it unless you start shrinking the population.

Well, sperm counts are dropping and no one knows what gender they are anymore so maybe we're going to happen

[heydaralon]

Martin could be unemployed if the federal government raised minimum wage to even $12. Its scary to think about.

[Speaker to Animals]

Consider this: beyond the basics you need to lead a lower middle class lifestyle, more products won't necessarily make you happier, and the pursuit thereof is more likely to make you less happy than happier.

If you want happiness, marry an uncontentious woman, spend lots of time with your children, go to church, lead a virtuous life. I know.. heresy.

[Ex-California]

Consider this: beyond the basics you need to lead a lower middle class lifestyle, more products won't necessarily make you happier, and the pursuit thereof is more likely to make you less happy than happier.

If you want happiness, marry an uncontentious woman, spend lots of time with your children, go to church, lead a virtuous life. I know.. heresy.

[Fife]

Is human life better off or worse off since penicillin? What's the next penicillin? That's right, nobody knows. Nobody.