Monday, April 09, 2007

My favorite kind of socialism / welfare state

Let the machines do the work and pay the taxes while humans enjoy the "welfare state."

Of course maybe us humans need balance, rather than not working at all. We can let the machines do most of the work and let us work "part time."

It's my kind of socialism and I am not really a socialist.

Actually, I would consider myself a part socialist. I believe in a large public sector, but also advocate a more or less "free market" economy.

"More or less," that's balance.

My scale is tipped toward calling myself a socialist when the prospect of having the machines do most of the work is suggested.

Maybe we should still work part time for balance, but really ... The machines can do a lot of mundane and repetitive tasks better.

Why have human bank tellers when machines can do it? Miss that human smile at the bank? Well, that smile is short lived when there's a long line of customers that have to be hurried through the line.

Hurried, harried?

Can't we just do our mundane banking by machine and then head to the beach where our former "bank teller now artist" hangs out? On the beach we might have more time for long philosophical conversations.

Yes, my kind of welfare state. Machines do the work and people enjoy a benevolent society.

We can even program the machines so that they don't grumble when they pay the taxes.

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