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Pamela Sund's avatar

Such thoroughness on the subject; intricate explanations of each aspect of the problem with

Human Replacement Technology. Plus meaningful conclusions, marching orders, etc. Stunned here. Need to re-read, contemplate further, act in a meaningful way, and pass this around. Thanks for posting, Ewan.

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UNTOPIA's avatar

Thanks for reading and sharing Pamela. I hope the two sides in previous political battles can come together to confront the bigger threat, otherwise its a case of 'divide and conquer'

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Moomin Mama's avatar

Timely and frightening... and you propelled me into rereading Solzhenitsyn "Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!" https://www.solzhenitsyncenter.org/live-not-by-lies to remind myself that my antidote to the 'lies' of my uselessness is my agency, however small. Where do I start? David Whyte's poetic guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=030YqrN4SFc

Start close in,

don’t take the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing

close in,

the step

you don’t want to take.

Start with

the ground

you know,

the pale ground

beneath your feet...

Start with your own

question...

Start right now

take a small step

you can call your own...

Seems to me that most if not all that makes human meaning cannot be supplied by AI/robots/virtual worlds. I am referring to real food grown, cooked & shared. Covenantal relationships, witness, touch, laughter, conversation, singing, to name but a few.

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UNTOPIA's avatar

I didn't know this poem by S.

his recommendations sound very much like the steps I took to get over Chronic Fatigue. Many thanks!

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Susanna Crossman's avatar

This is brilliant Ewan!

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UNTOPIA's avatar

Thank you, Susanna. Good luck with your launch, wish I could be there!

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Michael Maiello's avatar

We should have a universal basic income anyway because we are well past the point where we can meet the world's needs without forcing people into labor by threat of deprivation. If people want to spend their time on non-economic activities, that's fine. I suspect our current system is less about the demands of economic output than about using work as a system of control. In the US, for example, your employer can do things to you that we'd never empower the government to do (drug testing, for example, or firing you for having a political opinion).

UBI would not motivate most people to loaf. People would view UBI as a floor standard of living. Most people are not satisfied with the floor. A real UBI would make everybody rich. What won't work is a system where people who own AI live like kings and everybody else is below the salt line.

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