I’m making my first (believe it or not) attempt at social networking with the new Google+. The service has been getting a lot of buzz; according to the San Jose Mercury News, it’s being used by a lot of “Silicon Valley insiders.”
I’ve set up a profile and started a discussion about the impact of technology (especially automation/robotics/AI) on the job market and economy.
Right now, Google+ is in test mode, so if you don’t have access and would like to participate in the discussion, click here to get an invitation to join Google+ . Once you have an account, you can invite others.
I don’t use Facebook, but one of my readers was kind enough to set up a page for my book, The Lights in the Tunnel:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lights-in-the-Tunnel/145229482171278
Social media has been ablaze because Netflix just raised its prices. I do think that the issues discussed on this blog are going to be (or already are) a much bigger deal than the extra six dollars a month that Netflix is charging…
If any of my readers are active Facebook/Twitter users, I’d certainly appreciate it if you’d try to bring more attention to these issues.
Martin Ford 
Hi Martin,
Have you seen the movie Zeitgeist: Moving Forward? It’s a documentary which is free online (search YouTube) and is very popular. It goes into some of the issues of your book, namely automation replacing jobs. I believe you will find it interesting if nothing else. Anyway the point is that there is a HUGE following for this movie on Social Networking, the “Zeitgeist Movement” have made it their mission to “spread the word” about the impending economic collapse and a possible new direction out of it called “The Venus Project”. Your book is often cited by the movement.
I continue hearing folks (mostly rural & religious) say that social networking/media is evil & will eventually make it impossible for someone to live (or at least have a ‘modest’ or comfortable existence) without having a social media account or a smartphone. They believe social media & smartphones will be used to hunt down anyone w/ religious beliefs (or not in line w/ world corporate or antichrist) & either assimilated into a life of slavery or terminated (w/ their body parts being used for energy/food).
I’ve also heard a lot recently about comparisons of what’s happening to the films “Logan’s Run” & “Soylent Green” too. Heard farmers talking about how outraged they are about scientists & corporations finding alternatives or ways to use less & less of their produce.
Many unemployed people that I know are convinced they cannot get a job (or even be considered) unless they have a social media account or smartphone. They attend job networking events finding most folks have little to do w/ them unless they’ve got a social media account or smartphone.
What’s really going to happen to these folks? Are they just Luddites that are going to be ‘swept away’?
Barring an unforeseen change in the current reality, YES. The decline of the middle class and the gap between the haves and have nots began as business began moving manufacturing overseas. Perhaps the subsidies and other incentives from the US gov’t for this exodus originated as an effort to influence other parts of the world–or perhaps it was just sold as that by those who lobby for big business/industry. Greed has reached the point of being something akin to treason. There is already underway a kind of class warfare in this country bing fought against the employee class by the employer class–and the rich are winning. The current trend, unchecked, damages our security as it diminishes our ability to defend ourselves as a nation and has nearly and will eventually destroy the essence of what the majority of the American people believe our society is or should be about–individual liberty, freedom with equal right under law. When this belief reaches critical mass, there will be another revolution–we can only hope it is a peaceful one, for the majority is woefully outgunned. Since the rich–less than five percent–do, for all intents and purposes, control this country (and seem to own our elected representatives), the next revolution will be the most underpriviledged and angry among us against the most wealthy and powerful, with the rest being forced to choose sides or being declared the enemy by the majority and/orget caught in the crossfire.
The violence south of our boarder and the many millions of illegals already fleeing their homelands suggest that the governments Mexico and the other countries of North America located to the south of us will likely collapse first, flooding us with billions more illegals. Our society, as is–as it will likely be– simply cannot absorb them.
When the next revolution ends, I foresee one nation between Canada (if it does not also include Canada) and South America and it will likely begin as something akin to a police state required to quell anarchy and keep those who will ‘win’ the war in power–not unlike some developing nations now. The “Patriot Act” assures the “legality” of abuses of civil rights when the “haves” win the first round: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The recent Supreme Court decision that says business, in addition to hiring firms to lobby for them, can now, legally, have the same voice in our elections as individuals–magnified millions of times over because $ is the power of advertising and advertising works on the gullible, uneducated, lazy and apathetic mind or the mind preoccupied with something else–survival. The Patriot Act, advanced technology and modern weaponry substantially DECREASE the likelihood that the new country that arises when the US fails will even resemble democracy or a representative government.
I hope I’m wrong.
OOPS; my post here is intended to answer the question could inequality lead to civil unrest.
The age of automation was projected to decrease the manual and mental efforts of humans by many social scientists.This is a polite way to say that jobs performed by humans will disappear because of economic reasons.Robots and computers can do these labors much cheaper.We see this happening very rapidly as techniques are installed in the overall service and production sectors of industry.This is more apparent in the first tier countries such as the USA and Europe where labor costs are highest.Countries like China and India because of their lower labor costs can still compete with machines and are enjoying an advantage until the development of cheaper automatons are devised.They too will also then encounter the same unemployment problems.What can be done to solve this problem?To me it is obvious.The increase in productivity caused by automation must be transformed into lesser hours of labor for society’s individuals with no decrease in compensation.A ten percent increase in productivity must be followed by a compensating decrease in labor.This has worked before by installing the rule of a 40 hour work week.Europe compensates by extending the number of vacation days for individuals.We must keep the labor costs high to provide the cash flow necessary to maintain the corporation expansion and output.Industry can afford this increase in costs.Today corporate profits are at an all time high but are being hoarded by them.If they are used to enrich their employees,our economy can be made to expand at a proper pace.
believe it or not, the time is here 😀
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