There is a lot of rightful focus here on the use of force against children in general. I think we should also ask why anyone should be Tased or killed for suspicion of a minor property crime (or arguably any property crime).
A child. Only suspected of shoplifting. How is the violence done to this young person—who is presumed innocent!—in any way proportional to the negligible economic damage to the store? She wasn't stealing stealth bomber plans that could put lives at risk.
Everyone defending this brutality is in effect saying, "If this girl were sitting in front of me and reached for a $5 item on the table, I'd rather tase her than to let her have it or find some other, non-violent way of dealing with the situation." Pure and simple: it puts an incredibly low price on this kid's life, which says a hell of a lot more about how the person doing the tasing was raised than about the child's upbringing.
The article seems to be neglecting the factor of voter turnout.
If fake news makes partisans angrier, it's entirely conceivable (but unproven) that it could make them more likely to actually vote. This could potentially be huge.
@Ninja You seem to be making the implicit assumption of everyone who sees not mass unemployment, but jobs "shifitng": That there will be somewhere for them to shift _to_.
In an economy where essentially EVERY job is automatable, how exactly do you envision meatsuits competing with machines? I suggest you re-read @OldMugwump's comment above. And you aren't allowed to begin any sentence with "But people can..." or "But machines can't..." :-)
Love your comment; it's one point I managed not to address in my lengthy rant (below). Decoupling imputed moral value from (current) economic necessity will surely be one of the hardest conceptual leaps to make. My niece is a talented violinist. That (and four bucks) will get you a latté at Starbucks.
I found this article a rare disappointment. Geigner is completely missing the point: Enhanced productivity for EVERYTHING is not comparable to a few million spot welders making Honda Civics. It's about automating almost everything, right down to middle management. Even design is much less labor intensive already, but we'll just ignore those jobs as safe, since keeping such numbers won't affect mass unemployment one whit.
Yes, there will always be 5-star accommodations with a "personal" (meat-sack) touch, but how many hand-made chairs, brooms, dishes, etc. etc. are sold every year, and what is the average purchasing power of their makers? What will India look like when every basket weaver is replaced by a machine that doesn't even need a hand-full of rice per day to work? How many such producers are really Village Craftspeople producing artisanal luxury, and how many 3rd world wage slaves making "...glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections, proof that they were crafted by the honest, hard-working, indigenous peoples of...wherever." And what happens when the 'bots can do it with just a solar panel?
Geigner is missing the boat; it's not about welding and painting, it's EVERY JOB on the line. It's essentially EVERY JOB at Foxconn. It's not an olive tree shaker or a GPS-led plow, its ALL of agriculture. Robots to pick tomatoes, strawberries, apples...everything. All the time. Robots to drive the trucks. Automated logistics. Top to bottom AI.
It's not "but what about the machinists", it's "plausibly name a job that can't be automated away by an arbitrarily competent AI/robot, even if it doesn't have the ineffable spark of humanity." Now picture this in every sector, such that Capital will be effectively unfettered, free from the demands of Labor. Congrats Marxists: No more oppression, but at the cost of nearly all jobs.
Clarke's Law needs a corollary: Any sufficiently advanced automated system WILL take you job unless you can do it more cost-effectively. "Cheaply" ignoring history is a lesser sin than failing to grasp the nearly all-encompassing reach of even good-enough, "weak" AI.
From that point on, it will pretty much have to be redistributionist policies everywhere, all the time. "Citizen Income", here we come. Alternatives would certainly interest me, but I don't see any on the horizon.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Miker.
How could this ever fit the crime?
There is a lot of rightful focus here on the use of force against children in general. I think we should also ask why anyone should be Tased or killed for suspicion of a minor property crime (or arguably any property crime).
A child. Only suspected of shoplifting. How is the violence done to this young person—who is presumed innocent!—in any way proportional to the negligible economic damage to the store? She wasn't stealing stealth bomber plans that could put lives at risk.
Everyone defending this brutality is in effect saying, "If this girl were sitting in front of me and reached for a $5 item on the table, I'd rather tase her than to let her have it or find some other, non-violent way of dealing with the situation." Pure and simple: it puts an incredibly low price on this kid's life, which says a hell of a lot more about how the person doing the tasing was raised than about the child's upbringing.
(untitled comment)
If fake news makes partisans angrier, it's entirely conceivable (but unproven) that it could make them more likely to actually vote. This could potentially be huge.
Re: Pry
"Lost" jobs and shifting employment
In an economy where essentially EVERY job is automatable, how exactly do you envision meatsuits competing with machines? I suggest you re-read @OldMugwump's comment above. And you aren't allowed to begin any sentence with "But people can..." or "But machines can't..." :-)
(untitled comment)
Budget deficits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Budget_Deficit_1971_to_2001.png
Corporate profits
https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/fredgraph.png?graph_id=45260
NAFTA wasn't bad for business, it just isn't reaching workers
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Productivity_and_Real_Median_Family_Inco me_Growth_1947-2009.png
Re: Re: The new Socrates
(untitled comment)
Yes, there will always be 5-star accommodations with a "personal" (meat-sack) touch, but how many hand-made chairs, brooms, dishes, etc. etc. are sold every year, and what is the average purchasing power of their makers? What will India look like when every basket weaver is replaced by a machine that doesn't even need a hand-full of rice per day to work? How many such producers are really Village Craftspeople producing artisanal luxury, and how many 3rd world wage slaves making "...glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections, proof that they were crafted by the honest, hard-working, indigenous peoples of...wherever." And what happens when the 'bots can do it with just a solar panel?
Geigner is missing the boat; it's not about welding and painting, it's EVERY JOB on the line. It's essentially EVERY JOB at Foxconn. It's not an olive tree shaker or a GPS-led plow, its ALL of agriculture. Robots to pick tomatoes, strawberries, apples...everything. All the time. Robots to drive the trucks. Automated logistics. Top to bottom AI.
It's not "but what about the machinists", it's "plausibly name a job that can't be automated away by an arbitrarily competent AI/robot, even if it doesn't have the ineffable spark of humanity." Now picture this in every sector, such that Capital will be effectively unfettered, free from the demands of Labor. Congrats Marxists: No more oppression, but at the cost of nearly all jobs.
Clarke's Law needs a corollary: Any sufficiently advanced automated system WILL take you job unless you can do it more cost-effectively. "Cheaply" ignoring history is a lesser sin than failing to grasp the nearly all-encompassing reach of even good-enough, "weak" AI.
From that point on, it will pretty much have to be redistributionist policies everywhere, all the time. "Citizen Income", here we come. Alternatives would certainly interest me, but I don't see any on the horizon.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Miker.
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