An Automated Future (CJ Styles, Guest Post)

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Automated Poverty

By CJ Styles

Let's just pretend for a minute that everyone in this nation was on equal footing. We all had an equal chance, equal resources, equal pay, equal...everything.

That seems to be what many folks want today. They want to be guaranteed some form of safety...some form of normalcy. I can't say that I disagree. The idea sounds nice. To be able to pursue the true passions you enjoy without worrying where your next meal or rent check is coming from.

But where, then, would be the reward for the work?

Sure, universal basic income may become necessary because of automation. We may one day reach the point where jobs are replaced to the extent where such a large portion of the population are “unemployable” that some funding has to be provided. But at what point will that affect innovation to the point where we can no longer grow as a nation?

Will we reach a point of stagnation, in which progress comes to a screeching hault?

Will our democracy and capitalism as we know it slowly dissolve as we become creatures of an automated system?

Will we slowly descend to a point in which human influence becomes unnecessary?

Now, admittedly, these ideas are far fetched. But they are all realistic questions which must be answered at some point in the future. There is no doubt as technology continues to improve, and does what it has done for years (shrink the need for human input) we will one day face the challenge of “where does the human race fit in”?

Maybe we ought to address this issue before it becomes like climate change: something that has to get “too far gone” before we come to a solution

CJ Styles is a contractor in the Midwest. He specializes in installing automation technology, specifically in small scale factory production. His hobbies include hunting and gardening.