My last post described a situation where everyone was individually wealthy, but that doesn't necessarily make for a utopia. I wanted to explain why I put it there -
The definition of a utopia is "an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect." There are some things I don't think any society can make perfect -
People longing for something they don't have the talent for. Like someone who wants to be a famous artist, who doesn't have the skills or talent or what-have-you to become one.
Relationship problems (friends, family, lovers, etc.)
I could add things such as 'health problems', but it's hard to say how much can be solved with technology in some future point. So most likely there's still going to be something outside our control, healthwise, but it could be to a larger or lesser degree than we imagine.
These are things I don't think any society can ultimately resolve, though perhaps that's just my personal lack of imagination.
Having everyone independently wealthy, however, would lead to all sorts of 'perfect' possibilities. Assuming we've got the technology/resources to continue manufacturing desirable goods, and that people willing do the work that can't be automated, and so on and so forth.
How so? Mainly because everyone, and not just the few, would have the resources to do what they truly wanted to. They wouldn't be stuck in some mediocre, dead-end job just to pay the bills. Wouldn't be wasting 8 hours a day (and possibly an hour or two of commute time) doing something tedious and mind-numbing because it's the best they think they can get.
There are all sorts of frustrating things we endure on a daily basis, that we just accept as 'the way it is' because we don't see any other choice. N. N. Taleb (author of The Black Swan), had an interesting article discussing why and how businesses require employees...and use it as a form of control.
This has an interesting resonance with other things - the term 'wage slave', which sometimes differentiates the modern economy from our agricultural past where each farmer was essentially theri own small business owner. (There's a loss of independence, and consequences associated with that, which affect us all today.) The issue with modern slavery, and with businesses who exploit workers to make bricks, burn charcoal, and so on and so forth. There's even been some discussion/debate over whether Google and other Silicon Valley companies are re-inventing the rather disastrous company town.
I started with N.N. Taleb's article because he attributes this drive for control to business needs. That is, a business needs to be sure they can offer their goods and services on a consistent and reliable basis...and independent contractors may not be as reliable as a business could wish. (In the example he gave, a pilot was offered quite a lot of money to break contract and take a client on a unplanned trip.) This is a rather non-judgmental explanation for the incentives for controlling your employees...
And it brings up questions about power, control, and how we can have a modern society that meets our desire for fast, reliable service while at the same time creating a world where people can live their lives to the fullest.
The definition of a utopia is "an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect." There are some things I don't think any society can make perfect -
People longing for something they don't have the talent for. Like someone who wants to be a famous artist, who doesn't have the skills or talent or what-have-you to become one.
Relationship problems (friends, family, lovers, etc.)
I could add things such as 'health problems', but it's hard to say how much can be solved with technology in some future point. So most likely there's still going to be something outside our control, healthwise, but it could be to a larger or lesser degree than we imagine.
These are things I don't think any society can ultimately resolve, though perhaps that's just my personal lack of imagination.
Having everyone independently wealthy, however, would lead to all sorts of 'perfect' possibilities. Assuming we've got the technology/resources to continue manufacturing desirable goods, and that people willing do the work that can't be automated, and so on and so forth.
How so? Mainly because everyone, and not just the few, would have the resources to do what they truly wanted to. They wouldn't be stuck in some mediocre, dead-end job just to pay the bills. Wouldn't be wasting 8 hours a day (and possibly an hour or two of commute time) doing something tedious and mind-numbing because it's the best they think they can get.
There are all sorts of frustrating things we endure on a daily basis, that we just accept as 'the way it is' because we don't see any other choice. N. N. Taleb (author of The Black Swan), had an interesting article discussing why and how businesses require employees...and use it as a form of control.
This has an interesting resonance with other things - the term 'wage slave', which sometimes differentiates the modern economy from our agricultural past where each farmer was essentially theri own small business owner. (There's a loss of independence, and consequences associated with that, which affect us all today.) The issue with modern slavery, and with businesses who exploit workers to make bricks, burn charcoal, and so on and so forth. There's even been some discussion/debate over whether Google and other Silicon Valley companies are re-inventing the rather disastrous company town.
I started with N.N. Taleb's article because he attributes this drive for control to business needs. That is, a business needs to be sure they can offer their goods and services on a consistent and reliable basis...and independent contractors may not be as reliable as a business could wish. (In the example he gave, a pilot was offered quite a lot of money to break contract and take a client on a unplanned trip.) This is a rather non-judgmental explanation for the incentives for controlling your employees...
And it brings up questions about power, control, and how we can have a modern society that meets our desire for fast, reliable service while at the same time creating a world where people can live their lives to the fullest.
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