Let's Riff on the next Tech/Social Revolution

[Zlaxer]

Hmm, yes, I'm sure the newly unemployed, debt-ridden, proud NRA members of the blue collar class will peacefully and meekly roll over so the new city-centered high-utopias will emerge. I foresee absolutely zero civic problems with the second option and anticipate their complete and total acceptance of their apparent newfound irrelevance to society at large.

What you fail to understand - is that the proles don't have a choice....they can haz sad all they want- but they will never be able to do shit about it....

I fully understand that as much as "bread and circuses" gets rightfully shit on, it's nevertheless an important tool of the ruling class. Especially the bread part. If you can't or won't provide the masses with access to bread (either directly through welfare, or opportunities to gainfully earn it), then they may still die, but they won't die quietly. It'll be loud, and messy, and full of gunpowder. The rich can either find some way to make sure the bread keeps flowing to the underclasses... or they can cower in their New Zealand bunkers and pray the armies of the world are kept in line enough to prevent coups during the "pacification" period.

They appear to be selecting the second option.

History shows that governments, except for the French Royalty, are good at keeping proles in line....Unless those with means join the revolution, it will be crushed - much much harder and with much much more force than the US's dicking around with the Mussies....When the survival of the state is truly at stake - it won't fuck around with silly concepts like civil liberties and rules of engagement....

[DBTrek]

So, let me get this straight: if a truck driver loses his job because his company bought a fleet of self-driving trucks and thus he is no longer useful to them, and he can't get a job from a different trucking company because they've also switched or are switching to self-driving trucks to stay competitive, and he is, say, middle aged and either is unable or can't afford retraining... that guy and possibly his family deserve to die in poverty? Simply because he made the obviously stupid mistake of entering into a career a few decades beforehand that's suddenly been rendered as irrelevant as horse-drawn cargo cart drivers?

In light of this example, I'd ask you to entertain the following questions:

• 1) Is this trucker the first person in American history ever to lose a job from a dying industry? If not, is there something special about this trucker that entitles him to a special support system beyond what countless other Americans in the same situation have received?
  
  2) By accepting a job as a trucker back in the day, did he make some sort of covenant with the rest of society that entitled him to a permanent middle class lifestyle? Is there some reason he is entitled to be immune from poverty?
  
  3) As a full grown man, with a family, is it incumbent on this father/husband to find a new means for providing for his family, or is it incumbent on the rest of society to find a new means to provide for him and his family?

TLDR: There's nothing special about losing a job in a dying industry. Countless Americans before this guy have done it without resorting to neo-Lazy-Communism.

[Zlaxer]

It's unpleasant to think that most humans won't be able to support themselves in the future - but the sooner we realize that as a society, the sooner we can find workable solutions that strike an acceptable balance between not fucking them over and maintaining free market principals...

[DBTrek]

I think it's a disturbing commentary on American culture that, when faced with uncertainty, the gut reaction of many is to turn to government as if the state is some kind of parental figure placed here to keep the individual safe from hardship. When, exactly, did this become what being an American was about?

Truly troubling.

[DrYouth]

turbofucked

You see it's not at all clear that anyone gets "turbofucked".

For the most part the chances are that more good will come from the new technology than bad.

It's simply that social change is part of the deal, as it has been all along.

We just can't imagine that social change yet.

Each society will experiment and the winners will be obvious in hindsight.... and their social experiments will have the day in the long run.

The West won the last round... and no reason they shouldn't lead on the next round.... but the west will be transformed in the process.... bet that!

[DrYouth]

I think it's a disturbing commentary on American culture that, when faced with uncertainty, the gut reaction of many is to turn to government as if the state is some kind of parental figure placed here to keep the individual safe from hardship. When, exactly, did this become what being an American was about?

Truly troubling.

"The government is a parental figure placed here to keep us from hardship."

Worth looking at.

Even in the feudal age the King and his court were viewed as parental figures.... and little has changed since then.
Democracy is basically a vote every few years and then the "Parents" take over.

You have to go back to Tribal times to see a less parental view of leadership...
Consensus was easier to establish in those societies.

Perhaps the next age will take us back to that.... with digital technology allowing greater participation in decision making.
Or maybe (more frighteningly) - the all knowing algorithms take over.
That would be massive social change right there.

Either way shit is not going to stay the same.

[Fife]

"The government is a parental figure placed here to keep us from hardship."

Worth looking at.

What country is that? Sure as shit is not in any of America's foundational paperwork.

[DBTrek]

"The government is a parental figure placed here to keep us from hardship."

Worth looking at.

What country is that? Sure as shit is not in any of America's foundational paperwork.

Canaderp.
Of course.

[SuburbanFarmer]

The poor get turbofucked, no matter what happens. That's one constant in history. Money = Power

Intelligence and "usefulness to society" usually = money....so if someone is not useful or stupid, they should be poor.

It's when people gain power and money without being useful, e.g., corruption, or when those that are smart can't climb the economic ladder, that you should be up and arms about.....

The meritocracy barely exists, nor has it for most of history.

See: Ruling classes, serfs, slaves, Nikola Tesla

[SuburbanFarmer]

History shows that governments, except for the French Royalty, are good at keeping proles in line....

..... you are hereby banned from using the term "History shows..." ever again on this forum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_r ... rebellions