Most of those other people are doing useful tasks, without which people wouldn’t get nearly as much of what they want. If you don’t understand our current economy, you don’t have much of a prayer of understanding future ones.
I didn’t say the rest weren’t doing useful tasks. On the contrary, I meant to imply that if only a fraction of the workforce works on providing subsistence directly and obviously, it doesn’t mean that the rest are useless rent-seekers.
(That said, I probably do have a more pessimistic view than you about the amount of rent-seeking and makework that takes place presently.)
What are humans doing now that we need only ~2% of the workforce to grow food and ~15% to design and make stuff?
Most of those other people are doing useful tasks, without which people wouldn’t get nearly as much of what they want. If you don’t understand our current economy, you don’t have much of a prayer of understanding future ones.
I didn’t say the rest weren’t doing useful tasks. On the contrary, I meant to imply that if only a fraction of the workforce works on providing subsistence directly and obviously, it doesn’t mean that the rest are useless rent-seekers.
(That said, I probably do have a more pessimistic view than you about the amount of rent-seeking and makework that takes place presently.)
Probably a fair point. One of the things we do is keep each other entertained.
Ems would still need “sensory” stimulation, though part of having a work ethic is not needing a lot of sensory stimulation.