my bad

I thought I had an idea.  I suppose I had several and I thought  I could fit them all together, and I was listening to the radio and that thing from Planet Money came on and everything fell into place.  Well I thought it fell into place, all I had to do was tie a few things together, polish up this and that,  I thought all I would have to do was write through it and I could get it all shipshape.

But it didn't turn out that way, stuff didn't fit together and indeed they began drifting away and the hour was getting late and I had things I wanted to do and I just posted it to see where it would go, and obviously it went nowhere.

I was thinking, as I have been lately, about automation, how eventually it will result in a few elites living in walled estates where the robots will will do all the work and guard the gates while whoever aren't members of the elite will live some sort of Mad Max existence raiding the crops of the elite and dashing away in armed dune buggies.  Everybody sees that as the inevitable result of economic inequality and runaway automation don't they?

I think my weakest point was that somehow we all collectively developed civilization and technology, and therefore it is our heritage, we sort of own it  Even as I am writing that I see how weak it is.  How can we own technology?  Then the idea was that this technology that our forefathers have developed is being used against us, and furthermore whereas once you had to get stuff from the sweat of your brow, which at least everybody is starting out equal there, anymore now you can just buy an app for it so the race goes to those with the dough, which is like so unfair, Man.

Maybe that stuff about buying the apps has some relevance.  If you want to build up an army to guard your estate from Mad Max, you have to deal with them, you have to pay them a living wage, you have to keep them happy enough so that they don't overthrow you, maybe you want to inspire some kind of loyalty.  How much easier it is to buy a robot army and the accompanying software off the shelf,.  Maybe I could extrapolate that to the factory owner who once had to deal with workers and anymore all he has to do is keep his software updates up.  Or maybe not, a lot of times those guys didn't treat their workers all that well.

But you know when you are talking about robot armies, maybe you are like Wile E Coyote looking down into the canyon and realizing that you have left that ledge long ago. And like I said that collective heritage of technology doesn't make much sense.



Well at least I know you guys are reading, and that there is some bullshit with which the hallowed, univy walls of The Institute will not put up with,  Mea culpa Gennelmens.  Mea culpa.