The following was written a couple weeks ago back when I was sick and had a really high fever. Consider it the fever addled ramblings of a madman if you will. That said, the more I thought about what I had written, the more intrigued I became with the idea. It's definitely a deviation from what I normally post not for everyone (no family stuff, so if that's what you're interested in, you can skip this one). Might as well simply throw it out there and let people see what they think of it.
As I mentioned a while back, I watched "The Island" recently. If you haven't seen it yet, I don't want to get too much into and spoil it, but it starts out with individuals in a utopian society, where all the basic needs of people are being met, and they're constantly being monitored and computers keep track of individual's health and activities. Their food, clothing and entertainment is provided. And while they have 'jobs' (tasks? assignments?), none seem critical (or even necessary) to the functioning of the society as a whole.
It made me start thinking about some things. What's the end goal of technological progress? If everything becomes easier and easier to do with technology, at what point do things tip where there isn't enough that needs to be done by the available labor force / people? And what does that labor force then do? Or do they need to do anything? At some point in society's future, there may come a time where there simply isn't enough manual labor required to provide everyone with something to do. This all goes back to automation. And I'm not in any way shape or form suggesting that automation and technological advancements are bad. I'm merely asking what's the next logical step? Hypothetically even if most mundane tasks could be accomplished via automation, there would still need to be some human intervention. While machines could go about diagnosing medical problems, there would still need to be some human in the loop (I would hope anyway, otherwise euthanasia may come about due some software bug or something). The more I think about it, the more fascinated I become with where it leads. Automation for the most part means reduction in the need for manual labor tasks, which are typically the lower wage earning workforce, but would almost necessitate increased or at least the same level of work done at the higher educational level tasks.
So what happens to the people displaced from the workforce. If they were able to get their minimum requirements for existence met free, what happens next? Without a job or purpose to channel their energy, what would people do? What would be the motivation for people that weren't displaced to continue working? Entertainment seems like it would become even more prominent (maybe there would finally be a point in having 500 cable channels). But as a society, what would happen. What happens to money if your basic needs are met for free? What about limitations? If a portion of the labor force isn't contributing, will they still be able to engage in all activities that everyone else can (thinking here basically about procreation). Will those in charge and in power allow and accept those who don't contribute to not have any limits imposed on increasing the population?
The more I consider it, the more it seems highly unlikely / implausible that there will ever be a Utopian society where everyone is actually considered an equal. There really just doesn't seem to be a clear path from here to there. Human nature just doesn't seem to be capable of allowing it. Someone will always believe they're better / more entitled. And as long as some people have more power than others, they will continue imposing their will on those with less power.
I'm sure I'm not broaching any ideas that are new, or that haven't been covered in depth in various articles or science fiction novels. Although most science fiction novels deal with the society after it's gotten to this 'near perfect' existence. I don't think I've seen too many novels that deal with the lead up to the formation of the Utopian society, just what happens after that society is in place.
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Two divergent futures in your Utopia. Either 1) people finally get to live for living, and automation makes that possible, or 2) human nature takes over and we find new things to do. I see #2 as the only likely outcome, because we are natual inventors and doers. If too many people start to do #1, then ingeneous opportunistic (you might say greedy) #2's will start to create things/services for the #1's to purchase.
The horrifying future is where the #2's creative energy is squashed by the #1's. There are signs of that today.
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