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From: rstevew@armory.com (Richard Steven Walz)
Subject: Re: Does Automation Take Jobs Away?
Organization: The Armory
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 02:21:40 GMT
Message-ID: <Ctu3wD.9@armory.com>
References: <mwilson.775136657@ncratl> <3132ap$i2t@mailer.fsu.edu> <CtME51.E6E@armory.com> <31ch28$cit@tribune.usask.ca>
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In article <31ch28$cit@tribune.usask.ca>, Henry Choy <choy@cs.usask.ca> wrote:
>Richard Steven Walz (rstevew@armory.com) wrote:
>: In article <3132ap$i2t@mailer.fsu.edu>,
>: Edward Flaherty <eflahert@garnet.acns.fsu.edu> wrote:
>: >mwilson@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Mark O. Wilson) writes:
>: >> 
>: >> If robots did 100% of the work, everything would be free.
>: -----------------------------
>: If the people owned the robots, or they were a national resource, then
>: sure.
>
>People do own the robots. In the past you had to tax people in order
>to build a computer. Now computers don't even cost as much as your
>personal income tax. Go buy one and be an owner.
------------------------
Meaningless babble. I have a number of computers, "you're soaking in it!"
-S

>: >	Not so.  There is still this thing called scarcity we have to 
>: >deal with.  
>: ----------------
>: I guess you never look UP! Between free thermonuclear power and orbital
>: conquest of the solar system's resources, I don't foresee a reasonable
>: problem for thousands of years. If we'd gotten up sooner, maybe a lot of
>: people wouldn't now have to die first of deprivation.
>
>
>:In space, scarcity is
>: an unknown concept.
>
>I must have missed this one in the Farmer's Almanac. Where did you
>find that?
-----------------------------
I have no idea why, when I tell you what can be found in a book, that you
believe that I read only one book. Again stupid and meaningless, La Choy!
-S

>: And with robots mining the asteroids,
>
>God knows what's on those asteroids. You can be my guest.
--------------------------------
Hmm, God? Why would She care?. They're our asteroids! And yes, we are pretty
damned certain which asteroids have what and have books of them and their
orbits. The courses are well maintained. There are three basic classes, and
we have evidence of their composition from their absorbtion spectra and
albedo. They make dandy building materials for orbit as well as good soil,
if we add a couple volitiles from the ocean, to grow crops in. And they are
simple to mine and smelt with solar power.
-S

>: and huge farms
>: and factories at L points or elsewhere, actually all we have to know is how
>: to fix things.
>
>Well that's all I know. Bring me to them then! Who's going to improve
>their efficiency I wonder. Oops forgot, there's no such thing as
>scarcity. We could care less about a few machines running infinite loops.
-------------------------------
If you keep building robot ships that keep bringing you more things, you
can't help but get very well off.
-S

>: We will all someday be part-time first-rate engineers. This
>: will be the natural heritage of the human race. There might be artists who
>: want to do that all the time. Maybe we'll be able to accomodate them, maybe
>: they will have to be taught engineering of production systems in grade
>: school before they are ALLOWED to branch out into such "hobbies".
>
>Why should engineering take priority over the arts?
-------------------------------------
Art is a hobby. Art is the favorite aspired to profession of four and five
year olds because they don'tknow how to read yet. Everybody does art. You
don't need a degree in it! Even engineering is art. But "pure" art is just
a doodle. You should still have to work for a living!
-S

>: After
>: all, what if *I* want to take up art as well in my free time!!! I'm not
>: about to do all the engineering for some fart-headed artist with delusions
>: of exceptional importance.
>
>Why should artists care about fart-headed engineers? All they ever do
>is spend two hours a day on art!!
>        Henry Choy                       "Math class is hard" - Barbie
>e-mail: choy@cs.usask.ca                  I AGREE!
-----------------------------------------
Inane as usual, La Choy.
-Steve Walz   rstevew@armory.com

