{"id":1104995,"date":"2019-03-12T20:55:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyreckoning.com\/?p=106923"},"modified":"2019-03-12T20:55:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T20:55:43","slug":"can-technology-save-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1104995","title":{"rendered":"Can Technology Save Us?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post Can Technology Save Us?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The economy has been trapped in a one-step-forward, two-steps-back cycle nearly a decade running.<\/p>\n

One door opens, two slam shut.<\/p>\n

A ray of sun cracks through, the overcast patches the hole.<\/p>\n

Rapidly advancing technology offers a way out, its drummers claim.<\/p>\n

They insist automation, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) will soon catapult the economic system into vastly more productive realms.<\/p>\n

By 2030 alone, they believe it could yield an additional $16 trillion to global GDP.<\/p>\n

They further claim 40\u201350% of human occupations will be subject to automation over the next 15\u201320 years.<\/p>\n

These are not limited to trucking, taxi driving or manufacturing and construction.<\/p>\n

To these we must add white-collared jobs in law, finance, medicine, accounting, etc.<\/p>\n

What will become of the attorney at law, we wonder \u2014 and the human conductor of the ambulance he chases?<\/p>\n

We are unconvinced automation will proceed at the projected gallop.<\/p>\n

But let us suspend all assumption for the moment\u2026 and drive on to the inevitable question:<\/p>\n

What happens when robots acquire the brains to perform nearly all human labor?<\/p>\n

Economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883\u20131950) put the term \u201ccreative destruction\u201d into general circulation.<\/p>\n

For Schumpeter, capitalism was the \u201cperennial gale\u201d of creative destruction.<\/p>\n

Capitalism blows away the old and inefficient. In comes the new and improved.<\/p>\n

Because of capitalism\u2019s perennial gale, today\u2019s serf lives more royally than yesteryear\u2019s king.<\/p>\n

Explains economist Richard Rahn of the Cato Institute:<\/p>\n

\n

The average low-income American, who makes $25,000 per year, lives in a home that has air conditioning, a color TV and a dishwasher, owns an automobile and eats more calories than he should from an immense variety of food\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Louis XIV lived in constant fear of dying from smallpox and many other diseases that are now cured quickly by antibiotics. His palace at Versailles had 700 rooms but no bathrooms (hence he rarely bathed), and no central heating or air conditioning.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here is progress itself. All because capitalism\u2019s creative gales flattened everything in sight.<\/p>\n

The obvious benefits of capitalism are why most focus on the \u201ccreative\u201d side of the ledger.<\/p>\n

But what about the equally critical \u201cdestruction\u201d side?<\/p>\n

Innovation and technology have always allowed humans to mine fresh sources of productive employment.<\/p>\n

The 19th-century farmer became the 20th-century factory worker\u2026 became the 21st-century computer programmer.<\/p>\n

But an omnipotent robot would likely spell the end of the human laborer.<\/p>\n

A robotic brute that can drive home a rivet is one thing.<\/p>\n

But a genius robot that could do anything a human can do \u2014 only better \u2014 is yet another.<\/p>\n

This robot would tower above the human as the human towers above the beasts of the field.<\/p>\n

An Aristotle, a da Vinci, an Einstein would be a dunce next to it.<\/p>\n

What human ability would lie beyond this unnatural beast?<\/p>\n

Artistic expression?<\/p>\n

A 900-IQ robot might run its circles around the human antique, you say.<\/p>\n

But it could not appreciate beauty \u2014 much less express it.<\/p>\n

The robot has a brain\u2026 but no soul.<\/p>\n

No, the kingdom of the arts belongs to man alone.<\/p>\n

Well, please introduce yourself to Aiva\u2026<\/p>\n

Aiva is a computerized composer.<\/p>\n

Programmers had it soak in the music of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and other colossi of the classical canon.<\/p>\n

Based on the inputs, it taught itself to compose original music.<\/p>\n

Its music is indistinguishable from a carbon-based professional\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Its tunes have been featured in cinematic soundtracks, advertisements and computer games.<\/p>\n

Will the next Mozart be a computer?<\/p>\n

Not even the oldest profession is safe from robotic competition \u2014 but let it pass for now.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Schumpeter\u2019s creatively destructive gales tear apart the social fabric \u2026<\/p>\n

Capitalism puts out its tongue at tradition.<\/p>\n

It uproots communities. It swings the human being around hairpin turns of social and technological change\u2026 like a dizzied fly upon a wheel.<\/p>\n

Within a generation, the centuries-old farming community is given over to the assembly line and the punch clock.<\/p>\n

A generation later the factory goes dark as creative destruction blows the jobs clear to China\u2026 or Vietnam\u2026 or wherever labor is cheapest.<\/p>\n

And Americans must constantly upend their families to follow the jobs \u2014 which pries apart the bonds of community.<\/p>\n

And advancing technology makes today\u2019s job obsolete tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Not everyone can take up new lines.<\/p>\n

Many are simply left behind, broken\u2026 and can never catch up.<\/p>\n

The river of progress carries forward, as it must.<\/p>\n

And yes \u2014 it must.<\/p>\n

Do you reject progress?<\/p>\n

Then the inventor of the wheel you must set down as a colossal villain.<\/p>\n

If justice held, Ford should have been flattened by an auto, Franklin fried in an electric chair.<\/p>\n

We disagree, with the highest respect.<\/p>\n

But let us at least recognize\u2026<\/p>\n

The advancing river of progress sometimes takes the human note with it.<\/p>\n

And not all change is progress\u2026<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

Brian Maher
\nManaging editor, The Daily Reckoning<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Can Technology Save Us?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post Can Technology Save Us?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Creative destruction” — a balanced look… What happens when robots can perform all human labor?…<\/p>\n

The post Can Technology Save Us?<\/a> appeared first on Daily Reckoning<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[708,484,366,1955,463],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1104995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-automation","category-brian-maher","category-dailyreckoning","category-techonology","category-the-daily-reckoning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1104995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1104996,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1104995\/revisions\/1104996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1104995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1104995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1104995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}