in Vol I, who is the protean enemy of human unity?;
in Vol II, what can possibly go wrong in an apparently perfect economy?;
in Vol III, is it possible to coordinate a civilization confronting cosmic complexity?
In "Quixote and the Windmill," the opening story of Vol II, machines do all the:
manual work;
routine computation;
independent research.
Therefore, the only human beings guaranteed employment are:
highly skilled and trained engineers and technicians;
scientific geniuses;
painters;
writers;
musicians;
spacemen;
tavern keepers.
Citizen's allowance covers basic necessities, including drink. A former industrial worker, disliking concerts and paintings, must settle for drink, women and stereo-film. His drinking companion, a genius but not a first rank genius, did find work as a servo-technician but was unable to tolerate its dreary routine.
Population is kept small and static and is adapting to its changed social environment. I think that, after at most three generations, the transitional problems would be resolved and there would be neither need nor incentive for the Humanist Revolution, fifty years later according to the Chronology of the Psychotechnic Series.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm sorry, but I don't share your optimism about how you think most of humanity would have adapted reasonably well to the kind of society we see in "Quixote and the Windmill" (and very similar ideas in the HARVEST OF STARS books). I still think boredom, despair, and ennui would be very real problems.
Sean
Paul and Sean:
Norman Spinrad wrote a rather depressing short story along those lines, "Dead End." Post-scarcity economy, virtually no one is NEEDED to do work, food and lodging are guaranteed ... and the suicide rate has gone way, way up as many people absorb the fact that they have NOTHING meaningful to do; they are USELESS.
Hi both,
Personally, I would read, write, meditate, exercise and converse, as I do now in retirement. One topic of conversation would be how to divert resources into meaningful activities for those who feel useless.
Poul Anderson's sf uncovers the most fundamental of issues.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And, even there, Poul Anderson has considered what might happen from assigning "resources" into developing "meaningful" activities for "redundant" people in both the HARVEST OF STARS books and GENESIS.
And his conclusion in both was bleak: activities meant to merely divert people, to distract them from the fact they have nothing real to do, not even being allowed to quarrel and carry out vendettas, will eventually be seen as hollow and empty.
The fact remains, most of humanity will never want to be scholars, philosophers, artists, mystics, or aesthetes. Or even be chess players!
No, the cure for despair and ennui will most likely be what we see in the Technic History and at the end of the HARVEST books: mankind breaking out of the Solar System to explore and colonize new worlds. Such colonies will need people of very ordinary minds and talents, people willing to do work that the most advanced worlds had automated people from needing to do.
I fear both Dave and I will remain skeptical about the value and desirability of a "post scarcity" economy.
Sean
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