Life equals food & shelter, and then relaxing and enjoying. Nothing more than that.
A long time ago I wrote down a question on a post-it note.
What if we made huge machines and robots to do everything for us?
The question came from my imaginary invention of a machine that chewed up asphalt, melted it down and put it directly back onto the road. Then, after McDonald’s started replacing cashiers with touch screens and I envisioned a fully robotic fast food store, I wrote it on the post-it.
At some point, the people who have the money to create and build these machines would have to share at least a little bit of money with all the people who were left jobless… This would probably create an issue at first, but in the end it would be the smart thing for them to do.
As more and more gigantic machines came on line, more and more people would have to find new ways to spend their time.
Not necessarily a bad thing!
What would we do?
This is the part of the question that made me hang on to that sticky note. This is a question that deserves some time.
What if you had enough money for a healthy amount of food, a safe shelter, and good healthcare, and it was all free? But, there is a catch.
There is almost no hope of climbing your way to the top. Unless you have a very specific skill set, you will be nothing more than someone who receives everything you need for free.
We will have come full circle. Back to subsistence living, where the only thing you could ever dream of was to put enough food on the table for your family and put a roof over their heads.
People would probably even start planting gardens, going fishing and hanging out with neighbours again.
This is a mind blowing situation.
Consider the story of the business man who asked the fisherman why he didn’t stay out an extra hour to catch more fish.
The fisherman was puzzled. Why would he want more fish?
“To sell them,” replied the businessman.
The fisherman was still puzzled. What would he do with the money?
“You could hire more fishermen, and make even more money,” relies the businessman, getting excited.
And, why would the fisherman want even more money???
So that he could retire and go fishing all the time!!!
What is the point of the whole mess of other stuff we do?
Sure, in my imaginary world there is the possibility of become slaves to gigantic robot overlords, but at the end of the day we will have everything we need.
Why not short circuit the loop back to the simple life right now?
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