Comrade Tiki
10th January 2014, 02:57
Simple tasks, such as waste management and street-cleaning, must be done. The key, however, is not to allow the incomes of these essential jobs to be dictated by the wide availability of simple labor (which supply-and-demand would have you do). As minimum wage is introduced or increased, these simple but labor-intensive tasks become more expensive to fund, which provides an incentive to research automation for such menial activities.
This introduces jobs which require a greater level of talent, jobs such as manufacture, oversight, and repair... which free-marketeers agree deserve a higher level of income. These are jobs worth human attention. Once automation for these menial tasks exists, beyond the expensive development and construction phases, the automata operate far more efficiently than the human devices they replaced. Asymptotically, it is wasteful (and depressing) to leave humans in these roles.
Without the artificial hike in labor expenditure, free-market systems fail to recognize investment in widespread automation as worthwhile. It is unprofitable within the course of, say, a shareholder's lifetime. It only pays off later.
Supply-and-demand is good for approximating value, but incapable of judging resources whose effects extend further than the lifespans of those who barter in capitalism. Rather than an invisible hand, it is the responsibility of a thinking body to reach peak efficiency... an intelligent design, if you will.
This is a train of thought I term technocratic socialism, and I love trains. Correct me if I'm wrong.
This introduces jobs which require a greater level of talent, jobs such as manufacture, oversight, and repair... which free-marketeers agree deserve a higher level of income. These are jobs worth human attention. Once automation for these menial tasks exists, beyond the expensive development and construction phases, the automata operate far more efficiently than the human devices they replaced. Asymptotically, it is wasteful (and depressing) to leave humans in these roles.
Without the artificial hike in labor expenditure, free-market systems fail to recognize investment in widespread automation as worthwhile. It is unprofitable within the course of, say, a shareholder's lifetime. It only pays off later.
Supply-and-demand is good for approximating value, but incapable of judging resources whose effects extend further than the lifespans of those who barter in capitalism. Rather than an invisible hand, it is the responsibility of a thinking body to reach peak efficiency... an intelligent design, if you will.
This is a train of thought I term technocratic socialism, and I love trains. Correct me if I'm wrong.