Society/Culture The future of our society

Sep 15, 2007
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I'm sure every generation worries about the future. But the situation currently seems unique. With the rise of AI and machines, what does the future hold?
Obviously plenty of unskilled workers are screwed, with factories/farms etc going people free. Anyone who's a driver of any kindk is in trouble.
But what about the higher level jobs that could go as well? GPs, accountants, lawyers etc. People beginning law next year could potentially be out if a job before they finish their degree.
There's going to be a massive shortfall of paid employment. We can't all code robots.
What happens then? Do we descend in to a Mad Max style world where we fight, steal and kill for resources and survival?
Do we implement a basic living wage? If so, how would it be implemented when the rich won't want to give up their wealth?
Would be interested to here people's thoughts.
There will always be jobs unless all our wants are satisfied. Work is what we do when we dont have everything we want. It doesnt matter how much better robots may be at work. We humans will always have a comparitive advantage at something so there will always be work to do. There will potentially be transitionary periods where people become unemployed and take time to find or accept different work but this will be temporary only (unless people are stubborn and refuse to do anything different to what they did before).

What robots really bring is massive efficiency gains that will greatly improve our living standards. Stop focusing on some short term costs and focus on long term benefits which are game changing for our lives.
 
Sep 15, 2007
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I fear for Australia's youth. As an anti-globalists my biggest fear was that my children would have to compete with a global workforce for jobs in Australia. This is no longer a fear for the future as it's happening now, especially in local and state govt agencies.

Open borders is inevitable. The crazy leftists/globalists want it and will get it. The upside is it will save me a fortune in having to sponsor an African kiddie as he will most likely be living next door.
You get we all have much higher living standards now then we did 40 years ago right? And a lot of those gains have come from globalism.
 
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Most of those drug deaths are from baby boomers who abuse drugs far more than the younger generations and are now more prone to dying from drugs given they are entering their twilight years. Once the baby boomers are gone those rates will dramatically fall.

If you choose 100 statistics on living standards pretty much all of them have improved, many dramatically, over the last 50 years. You have choosen about the only 2 that have become worse. Just a tad bit biased.
 

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Most of those drug deaths are from baby boomers who abuse drugs far more than the younger generations and are now more prone to dying from drugs given they are entering their twilight years. Once the baby boomers are gone those rates will dramatically fall.

If you choose 100 statistics on living standards pretty much all of them have improved, many dramatically, over the last 50 years. You have choosen about the only 2 that have become worse. Just a tad bit biased.
The suicide and drug overdose epidemic is affecting all age groups.

It has led to a three consecutive year decline in life expectancy in the US, not seen since WW1 and the Spanish Flu.
 
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Most of those drug deaths are from baby boomers who abuse drugs far more than the younger generations and are now more prone to dying from drugs given they are entering their twilight years. Once the baby boomers are gone those rates will dramatically fall.

If you choose 100 statistics on living standards pretty much all of them have improved, many dramatically, over the last 50 years. You have choosen about the only 2 that have become worse. Just a tad bit biased.

The suicide and drug overdose epidemic is affecting all age groups.

It has led to a three consecutive year decline in life expectancy in the US, not seen since WW1 and the Spanish Flu.
Yeah, the mental health aspect of tech is a huge concern also. The social isolation caused by increasing addiction to to social media in particular is a worry.
If unemployment over time does become a problem, this would just compound things.
 

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Yeah, the mental health aspect of tech is a huge concern also. The social isolation caused by increasing addiction to to social media in particular is a worry.
If unemployment over time does become a problem, this would just compound things.
The same thing happened in Russia in the 90s

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2014/09/02/dying-russians/

If there is post-industrial decline accompanied by mass underemployment in any country, expect the same as the above.
 
Sep 15, 2007
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Yeah, the mental health aspect of tech is a huge concern also. The social isolation caused by increasing addiction to to social media in particular is a worry.
If unemployment over time does become a problem, this would just compound things.
Technology reduces isolation. All the loners who couldnt pick up girls at a pub are now finding partners with dating aps. Technology is also bringing people together who have unique interests that would of in the past done boring s**t like coin collecting in their mothers basement. Technology has also greatly reduced the time it takes to do chores enabling more social time at nights and on weekends. Families used to spend half their weekends doing chores. Doesnt happen anymore. Technology does create new forms of bullying and gaming addictions but the opportunities it provides for socialisation greatly improve the costs.

The myth that technology creates isolation is created by a false belief that the past was better. It used to be that tvs would rot your brain cos they were new. Go back a couple of centuries and it was books that would rot your brain.
 

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Technology reduces isolation. All the loners who couldnt pick up girls at a pub are now finding partners with dating aps. Technology is also bringing people together who have unique interests that would of in the past done boring s**t like coin collecting in their mothers basement.
This is simply not true at all
 
Sep 15, 2007
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The suicide and drug overdose epidemic is affecting all age groups.

It has led to a three consecutive year decline in life expectancy in the US, not seen since WW1 and the Spanish Flu.
There are 2.6 million deaths in the US each year. About 50 thousand come from suicides and another 50 odd from drugs. Its hardly important to whats killing people. 600 thousand die from cancer. Another 600 thousand die from heart disease. 160 thousand due from accidents. Lets not sensationalise a small contributor. Opiod deaths have risen sharply but they are still minute in the grand scheme of things and other drug related deaths have only risen slightly.
 

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There are 2.6 million deaths in the US each year. About 50 thousand come from suicides and another 50 odd from drugs. Its hardly important to whats killing people. 600 thousand die from cancer. Another 600 thousand die from heart disease. 160 thousand due from accidents. Lets not sensationalise a small contributor. Opiod deaths have risen sharply but they are still minute in the grand scheme of things and other drug related deaths have only risen slightly.
Yes, everyone eventually dies. Thank you for uncovering this Seeds
 
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Technology reduces isolation. All the loners who couldnt pick up girls at a pub are now finding partners with dating aps. Technology is also bringing people together who have unique interests that would of in the past done boring s**t like coin collecting in their mothers basement. Technology has also greatly reduced the time it takes to do chores enabling more social time at nights and on weekends. Families used to spend half their weekends doing chores. Doesnt happen anymore. Technology does create new forms of bullying and gaming addictions but the opportunities it provides for socialisation greatly improve the costs.

The myth that technology creates isolation is created by a false belief that the past was better. It used to be that tvs would rot your brain cos they were new. Go back a couple of centuries and it was books that would rot your brain.

It's a relatively new field of research, but the findings are starting to come through.

https://raysac.org/2018/03/20/social-media-causes-isolation-in-teens/

Not sure what world you're living in, but I see groups of friends in trains more interested I their phones than the people in front of them. I see couples at dinner ignoring each other periodically. I know workers who have family time interrupted by being connected to the office at home. I see people in lunchrooms who interrupt conversation to check alerts on their smart watches. And so on. It's becoming more pervasive in society and the true effects are yet to be seen.
 
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It's a relatively new field of research, but the findings are starting to come through.

https://raysac.org/2018/03/20/social-media-causes-isolation-in-teens/

Not sure what world you're living in, but I see groups of friends in trains more interested I their phones than the people in front of them. I see couples at dinner ignoring each other periodically. I know workers who have family time interrupted by being connected to the office at home. I see people in lunchrooms who interrupt conversation to check alerts on their smart watches. And so on. It's becoming more pervasive in society and the true effects are yet to be seen.
Look at photos of people on trains and at train stations from fifty years ago. They are all reading newspapers. People at lunch often used to go and read a newspaper on their own as well. Its a myth that people just used to talk all the time and were super social. Perhaps the greatest social part of the work life was the smokie break and its probably very good that its now gone.

Ive never been on a date where people spend large chunks of time on the phone. The only time the phone comes out when the other is at the bathroom or we are looking up information to tell the other person. I.e. phones can help the conversation. Not to mention that dating apps also increase the amount of dates that people go on. People often used to go long periods between dates after they broke up with someone but that doesnt happen anymore for people who embrace dating apps.

That study doesnt consider that people use technology to socialise with people while at home. It is a form of socialisation just as valid as talking in a restaurant. Speaking of restaurants, younger people also spend a hell of a lot more time going to cafes and restaurants then in the past. Older generations now mock them for this. I wonder why that wasnt captured in the study. And how does working more increase socialisation? Working more means less time for leisure and catching up with friends. It seems like a biased study with an agenda. Typical of the older generation these days. A significant portion of younger people now also go on gap years and overseas holidays after year 12 which is all about socialisation. Long Overseas holidays wasnt really a thing until technology made it possible to organise yourself. It was basically impossible.
 
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Thegibbsgamble

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I fear for Australia's youth. As an anti-globalists my biggest fear was that my children would have to compete with a global workforce for jobs in Australia. This is no longer a fear for the future as it's happening now, especially in local and state govt agencies.

Open borders is inevitable. The crazy leftists/globalists want it and will get it. The upside is it will save me a fortune in having to sponsor an African kiddie as he will most likely be living next door.
An anti globalist?

Yet much of your postings is in favour of those who are forcing us into globalism.
 

Mike Smyth

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You get we all have much higher living standards now then we did 40 years ago right? And a lot of those gains have come from globalism.

Wouldn't you expect the standard of living to improve in 40 year olds, regardless of globalism?
 

Thegibbsgamble

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... is doomed
It is.

Did you see that American science has said that the only way to reduce the impact of global warming is through geo engineering and chemtrails. Its been denied for so long and now they say its our only chance. Crazy s**t.
 
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It is.

Did you see that American science has said that the only way to reduce the impact of global warming is through geo engineering and chemtrails. Its been denied for so long and now they say its our only chance. Crazy s**t.
it's typical, so that they can open up about their nefarious activities there whilst spinning it as tho they were always doing good.
 

Thegibbsgamble

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it's typical, so that they can open up about their nefarious activities there whilst spinning it as tho they were always doing good.

For so long capatalist science has directed technology to wage war and control resources. This has sent us down a path that they say that very technology causing the problems can only fix them.

You don't cure gun shot wounds by shooting people.
 

Admiral Byng

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This is simply not true at all

Yet here we all are, random strangers with a common interest in footy. We come here to enjoy the banter and comment in game day threads as the game unfolds. Which sometimes spills over into serious discussion like this thread. This is technology bringing us together and being more connected (assuming you are not all bots).
 

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Yet here we all are, random strangers with a common interest in footy. We come here to enjoy the banter and comment in game day threads as the game unfolds. Which sometimes spills over into serious discussion like this thread. This is technology bringing us together and being more connected (assuming you are not all bots).
They aren’t meaningful connections.
 
Sep 15, 2007
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They aren’t meaningful connections.
More meaningful then meeting work colleagues or most friends at a pub who only want to talk about boring sh**. I have to get pissed most of the time cos 90 percent of the conversation is boring as bat****. Forums give us the chance to talk about things that interest us.
 
Sep 15, 2007
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It is.

Did you see that American science has said that the only way to reduce the impact of global warming is through geo engineering and chemtrails. Its been denied for so long and now they say its our only chance. Crazy s**t.
Its true though. The world has already warmed. No reason why we have to reverse what has happened though.
 
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