A Challenge To All Extropians/Free Martketeers

Paul Hughes (planetp@aci.net)
Fri, 24 Apr 1998 19:41:07 -0700


Over the last several years I have become a big advocate for
free-markets. However, there has been some nagging questions that I
have yet to answer without resorting to some form of socialism in order
to solve. Can any free-market advocate answer any and/or all of the
following questions:

1) Is there a single field which is intrinsically safe from automation
in the course of the next 20-30 years? If you can think of more fields,
please elaborate.

2) Are these remaining fields if any, sufficient to employ the majority
of humanity? If not, what will the rest of humanity do in order to
survive?

3) For those who are unemployed and do not have sufficient investment
income, is death the inevitable result? If not, how will they survive?

4) Will most people alive today be able to save enough before their jobs
become automated?

5) If how much money one has saved is the the key to surviving
automation, does this not portend very badly for young people who have
had less time to save for their forced retirement? If this is true,
does this mean that the future is going to be populated almost entirely
of rich and old people and their children?

Paul Hughes