Opus 2013-104: Should-a-Beens: Utopia

Back in January I was reading a post on Powerline.  In the post they were quoting someone who was quoting someone.  You know how it goes.  The links were there if it interests you.  The theme was the tendency of new technology to put people out of work.  Today we might point out how computers put typewriter assemblers in the unemployment line.  In the past this has been painful in the short term but in the long run generated new jobs in other areas.  Often those new jobs paid better. 

Their concern was that pattern not seem to be happening today.  More sophisticated computers, more intricate mechanical designs and the big jump in skills needed for better jobs are putting millions out of work permanently.  How do you take the thousands of high school drop outs who could learn their job on an automobile assembly line in a few minutes and install them in small software trouble-shooting teams that requires years of college? 

The answer is simple.  You can’t.

This got me to thinking about one of the themes in Science Fiction.  It is presented in many forms, some providing quality of life and others producing nothing but drab.   Think about a society where things are totally automated so there are few real jobs.  Imagine an economy that is so well developed that everyone can receive the basics, and more, even if they never work.  In this society only the truly gifted and motivated have jobs that bring any sense of reward. 

It sounds dull and, in my view of human nature, impossible.  But I wonder.  Could this be where we will be forced to go in society?  Is it possible to go this direction and still have a free society?  Would boredom bring the culture to its knees?  Would it be better for there to be civilization destroying wars that do away with the plenty but bring back the challenge?

Stay tuned.  I don’t think I have that many years left but you may live to find out.

homo unius libri