In it, the author states that we are in the midst of a third industrial revolution as a result of a new energy/production and communications matrix i.e. renewable energies, 3-D printing and the internet.
Even if Rifkin was right about manufactured products and energy becoming ~free, that leaves about 70% of the US economy that remains not-free, i.e. the service sector. You can’t 3D print a dentist or plumber.
In any case I greatly doubt that 3D printing will be cheaper than current manufacturing. A 3D printer is not a nanofactory, and won’t be anytime soon.
This is basically an argument that we are nearing a “post-scarcity” economy, and therefore we must transition to communism. This is an idea as old as Marx, if not older.
In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life’s prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!
The problem is that there is a massive amount of not-fun work which needs doing. Contra the marxists, most work is not fun—and will never be fun. Corey Doctorow tried to solve this problem in his Utopia by using a form of pseudo-money called Whuffie.
The problem is that there is a massive amount of not-fun work which needs doing. Contra the marxists, most work is not fun—and will never be fun.
I think it is more complicated than merely “fun” and “not fun”.
Some work requires a lot of education—programming, or surgery. The work itself perhaps is not so bad, and someone would volunteer to do it for free… but first they would have to spend years or decades just getting the necessary education and skills.
If we would have an utopian society tomorrow—where I would know that I will never have to work for living, and yet all my needs will be fulfilled—and someone would ask me “Viliam, could you make a new version of LW website?”, I would probably say “yeah, it seems like an interesting work, I will start it right now”. But I could give this answer only because I have already gained my skills in the existing system, and the process of gaining them included doing a lot of work that I hated. Instead, if the utopian society would start when I was 10 years old, even if I would decide to spend my life programming, I would be focusing on funny parts and ignoring the frustrating parts, so I would probably lack many skills that I have now.
tl;dr—sometimes the work itself is “fun”, but getting all the necessary education and skills is “not fun”, which could be a problem in long run even if it would work in short run
Also there is the problem of checking quality. You could have people who want to do surgeries for fun, but you wouldn’t want them anywhere near you. There could be many professions where you could get volunteers for the wrong reasons.
Some work requires a lot of education—programming, or surgery. The work itself perhaps is not so bad, and someone would volunteer to do it for free… but first they would have to spend years or decades just getting the necessary education and skills.
Sure, but a lot of work is just not fun at all, and practically no one is intrinsically motivated to do it. No one is going to become a plumber or garbageman for kicks; some kind of instrumental motivation is needed. I’ve noticed a lot of people on the political left are really hostile to the idea that some people have to do unpleasant work—and isn’t just the fault of some arbitrarily cruel capitalist.
As I mentioned above, Corey Doctorow tried to solve this problem with “Whuffie,” but I think Whuffie is fundamentally flawed, and would not provide a well-functioning incentive structure.
I’ve noticed a lot of people on the political left are really hostile to the idea that some people have to do unpleasant work—and isn’t just the fault of some arbitrarily cruel capitalist.
This is probably a rude thing to say, but I suspect that these people are spoiled children from middle- and upper-class families, so they never had to do the unpleasant work.
As I mentioned above, Corey Doctorow tried to solve this problem with “Whuffie,” but I think Whuffie is fundamentally flawed, and would not provide a well-functioning incentive structure.
But I could give this answer only because I have already gained my skills in the existing system, and the process of gaining them included doing a lot of work that I hated.
While that might be true in your case, I think there are a bunch of self learned hackers who didn’t learn their skills in the formal way.
Even if Rifkin was right about manufactured products and energy becoming ~free, that leaves about 70% of the US economy that remains not-free, i.e. the service sector. You can’t 3D print a dentist or plumber.
In any case I greatly doubt that 3D printing will be cheaper than current manufacturing. A 3D printer is not a nanofactory, and won’t be anytime soon.
This is basically an argument that we are nearing a “post-scarcity” economy, and therefore we must transition to communism. This is an idea as old as Marx, if not older.
The problem is that there is a massive amount of not-fun work which needs doing. Contra the marxists, most work is not fun—and will never be fun. Corey Doctorow tried to solve this problem in his Utopia by using a form of pseudo-money called Whuffie.
I think it is more complicated than merely “fun” and “not fun”.
Some work requires a lot of education—programming, or surgery. The work itself perhaps is not so bad, and someone would volunteer to do it for free… but first they would have to spend years or decades just getting the necessary education and skills.
If we would have an utopian society tomorrow—where I would know that I will never have to work for living, and yet all my needs will be fulfilled—and someone would ask me “Viliam, could you make a new version of LW website?”, I would probably say “yeah, it seems like an interesting work, I will start it right now”. But I could give this answer only because I have already gained my skills in the existing system, and the process of gaining them included doing a lot of work that I hated. Instead, if the utopian society would start when I was 10 years old, even if I would decide to spend my life programming, I would be focusing on funny parts and ignoring the frustrating parts, so I would probably lack many skills that I have now.
tl;dr—sometimes the work itself is “fun”, but getting all the necessary education and skills is “not fun”, which could be a problem in long run even if it would work in short run
Also there is the problem of checking quality. You could have people who want to do surgeries for fun, but you wouldn’t want them anywhere near you. There could be many professions where you could get volunteers for the wrong reasons.
Sure, but a lot of work is just not fun at all, and practically no one is intrinsically motivated to do it. No one is going to become a plumber or garbageman for kicks; some kind of instrumental motivation is needed. I’ve noticed a lot of people on the political left are really hostile to the idea that some people have to do unpleasant work—and isn’t just the fault of some arbitrarily cruel capitalist.
As I mentioned above, Corey Doctorow tried to solve this problem with “Whuffie,” but I think Whuffie is fundamentally flawed, and would not provide a well-functioning incentive structure.
This is probably a rude thing to say, but I suspect that these people are spoiled children from middle- and upper-class families, so they never had to do the unpleasant work.
Whuffie is love, and love does not scale.
While that might be true in your case, I think there are a bunch of self learned hackers who didn’t learn their skills in the formal way.