what would a capitalist worker’s revolution look like?
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70% of the world makes less than $10 a day
50% of the world is on the internet
internet speeds are now fast even in developing countries
english is the lingua franca
workers want to work
they know they can do things that robots cant
they are hungry to learn, hungry to prove themselves
hungry to build a better life for themselves
they are capitalists
the workers are capitalists, even if they don’t know it
they want to work, to earn, to provide
the sky is the limit
and they want the sky
they don’t want universal basic income
they don’t want to surrender to the robots
they don’t want to be dependent on the government
and to pray “give us this day, our daily bread” to some bureaucrat
they want to learn
but they don’t want to learn old things from old institutions
they want to learn new things, about the new world
workers
work is the revolution
how do you give them work?
/
somewhere in new york
somewhere in london
somewhere in tokyo
the 10% work for the the 1%
and they are overworked and stressed out
staring at screens
instead of solving hard problems
instead of inventing the future
they are doing repetitive work
they die a little bit every day
because they know they could be doing meaningful work
creatives
work is the suffering
how do you take their work?
/
these are the two sides
supply and demand
workers, creatives
creatives know that workers exist, somewhere
workers know that creatives exist, somewhere
but they don’t connect
markets let creatives hire workers
but still, they don’t hire the workers
why don’t they hire the workers?
they don’t hire the workers, because hiring is hard
training is hard, managing is hard
it is hard to build an army
sometimes the creatives hire the workers
they hire one of them as an assistant
and that person never has enough time to do everything
and can never do it the way it is expected
so the creatives fire the workers
sometimes the creatives hire the workers to train their robots
or to clean their data
and the workers become human robots
contemplating the robots-to-come
but the workers are humans
they have genius, they have spirit
they can fight, they can be trained to fight
they can become valuable, they could do everything creatives can do
if only they were given the chance
who will give them that chance?
not the creatives; the creatives themselves need a savior
they’re drowning…
/
creatives, what are they drowning in?
they are drowning in solutions
solutions are an ironic thing to drown in
like dying of thirst in the salty ocean
the biggest problem in the world is solutions
an app for everything, a vendor for everything…
so why isn’t everything perfect yet
everything isn’t perfect yet because solutions have costs
you have to find them, you have to integrate them, you have to use them
there isn’t enough time in a day to use them
being a user of technology is a full time job
and if you’re spending all day using technology
there’s no time left to create technology, or to create anything
so the creatives face tragedy
they aren’t creatives anymore
they are just users
they don’t use technology
technology uses them
they want to cry
‘i thought it would be better’
‘i though technology would express my spirit’
but instead, they find themselves… trapped
in a never-ending cycle, a treadmill
no matter how much faster they work
there is always more work
never time to create
to get ahead
/
the capitalist sees these twin tragedies
the worker’s plight, the creative’s prison
and begins a revolution
i shall turn these peasants into knights
i shall recruit them, i shall train them, i shall manage them
i shall give them arms and tactics and discipline,
and i shall form an army
i shall build technologies to coordinate them
and processes to organize their work
an architecture to structure data
a way, i will give them a way
this is the way
to win this way, we must fight, we must sacrifice
but if we win, we will win, all of us, our freedom forever
our freedom to be humans, to work and to create
are you with me? he cries
and they scream: we can take it!
will you follow me over the mountain?
will you follow me bare of foot?
will you march in winter?
and they grimly nod
and steel themselves
then, turning to the creatives
he asks
to you, i give
a single bot to do everything
call us, show us
show us what you would have us do
as if we were your patient and humble intern
and we shall do it, and well, and quickly, and cheaply
so they do.
they give the gift of work.
and they pay for the gift, an industrial sum.
a $10 an hour. a round number.
50% the capitalist took.
and 50% to the workers gave.
and this was the beginning.
/
the establishment had written them off
paternalists, they had consigned them to handouts
to be a permanent drain on society
but they said no
they said, we shall take our place among the living
we shall build a home for ourselves, a glorious temple
a rising monument to the greatness of man
and with our own hands we shall build it
a product of our own minds
they asked for nothing
the capitalist made them capitalists
they made their own tools, they owned their own future
/
is there a limit?
an upward limit?
the sky, i promised you the sky
do not forget the sky
$5 an hour is nice
but you can do better
we can make an efficient market for labor
and if we there is an efficient market for labor
the market will always reward learning, greater learning, greater skill
so learn, so become skillful, so apply yourselves
and if we design incentives aright
then ye shall have your $6 and your $7
and by the $8s they shall come and their $10s
and $25s and $50s and $100s
and the world shall have work
the future is employment
/
with every passing year
the robots shall do more
but so shall the humans
the humans shall do less work, and more real work
the workers will become creatives
the creatives will become strategists
and the robots will become workers
/
the workers will not steal utopia
because they know that confiscating all the wealth of the rich
will never afford them their paradise
better, faster, cheaper
this is their new mantra
technology is deflationary
and it will deliver to them housing, transportation, food
and all other goods and services
an underwater flight to tokyo in 30 minutes for 15 dollars
a custom house for $1000
an endless wardrobe of adaptive clothing for $5 a month
what is $5 an hour?
“universal basic income” is not a new idea, they realize
it is just communism in a new name, an inflationary welfare
but this deflationary welfare, deflationary welfare is salvation
what is $5 an hour?
a flying suit subscription for $100 a month
what is $5 an hour?
unlimited coaching from world masters tailored to your psyche for $1/m
/
i have a dream
i have a dream
i have a dream that one day this species will rise up and live out the true meaning of its genesis: “god created man in his own image, in the image of god he created them…”
i say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, i still have a dream. it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream, yea, in the dream of all nations…
i have a dream, the once and future renaissance, the sacred spirit within each of us expressed, technology to unlock human potential
i have a dream, to save civilization from destroying itself, humanity united by trade and creativity, with no incentive to make war, and every incentive to make — with every individual set free, different and yet not a threat to the group, nor the group a threat to the individual
i have a dream that the sons of the under-employed and the over-employed shall come together at the table of genius — and break bread as artists, craftsmen, architects, generals, visionaries
i have a dream that one day the city of florence, whose streets throng with tourists who come to see, but not to remember — that now soul-less carcass of a once-great vision of freedom… will once again build towards the sky, and inspire men to be angels
i have a dream that one day, every possibility will be expressed, every word will be spoken, every private thought will be made public, and the nice will no longer be the enemy of the beautiful
i have a dream that all work shall be automated, the communications seamless, the delegations instantly understood, the incentives aligned, the actions coordinated, the chaos organized, and the glory of man shall be revealed.
/
send me your tired and your heavy laden, your stressed out and overworked masses yearning to breathe free
and i will give them automation.
/
The Robot’s Koan
Am I here to take your job,
Or are you here to give me mine,
Or am I here to teach you yours, human?
