JohnDonne wrote:I am looking at the alternative to Star Trek which is widespread unemployment and social unrest.C-Mag wrote:I can see why Progressivism is seductive, you are hoping for Star Trek: The Next Generation.JohnDonne wrote:
The progressive part of my brain is of the opinion that with the advent of automation and post-scarcity, the government should start giving people a mincome and let them use their free time to study, innovate and invent. Perhaps then we would see artistic and technological advancements at a truly awe-inspiring scale. But a conservative would be right to question whether it would really be a utopia.
I will have to give up my inalienable rights or have them taken from me. Once I do, I will be given a stipend for sustenance. I will have some down time to develop myself. There is going to have to be a very powerful government to make this happen. They are going to have to influence people to go along with putting their future into the hands of governments accepted science and technology. To do all this government needs to be large, have the agencies, personnel and resources to influence and if necessary force people to accept governments utopia.
How are we in disagreement about Progressivism ?
Why do you think it would be significantly more complicated to stream-line our current bureaucratic labyrinths into a mincome agency than to keep doing what we are now? People would have much more time to keep an eye on their politicians that they do now, making for better governments. Also, I propose a healthy supply of guns for the people to keep the government in check.
A gigantic problem we have is on the ongoing increasing concentration of income, wealth, and therefore sheer power, in the world.
If you look at Oxfam's 2017 report, eight, that 8, people have as much wealth the poorer half of humanity. That's 3,500,000,000 to 8. The top 1% owns as much as the rest of the 99%
https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pres ... alf-world.
A few years ago, it sixty-four people had as much wealth as the lower 3.5 Billion people.
Whatever successful solutions we come up with is going to involve changing this. Whether we like, or not. I also believe those wealthy individuals will resist.
This process is also happening in United States, which one of the reasons the economy is so crappy, and President Trump is our President. Since it is only the top 10% of the population is doing well, and with many of those busy saying it's all the 90% fault. That they are Losers, and Deplorables. I've even read of the lower classes especially, the poor, being referred too as extra, or unneeded, people, like out of some Dickens' novel.
For now there is large of amount of potential work, which would cause unemployment to just collapse, for the money is there, but all the money is locked upped. Even if, and when, the amount of work declines, there is still more than enough wealth to pay those working, or to change the system whereby you could live on fewer hours. Personally, I do not think just giving money to people is a good idea, but since there is a large amount of work still available we could give very good wages. Would you want a happy, well paid, well trained, middle class assistant for you aged relative, or do you want some sullen, untrained, minimum wage, wage slave doing so?
I originally heard this idea from an actual Marxist economist.
He pointed out a person's identity, and sense of worth, is usually tied into their job. No job, no sense of worth, bad social conditions. However, the national, and planetary, economic system has now been rigged to channel almost all the wealth, all the resources of any kind, from an every growing number of people to an ever shrinking number of people.
The changes need not involve the government anymore than it does today. It might involve, in the end less, government. It's not assured, but government usually gets involved, grows, when life gets bad. If more people can meet their needs in a useful way, and are happy, there will be less need for a large bureaucratic government, and a chance to shrink it.
