The implications of this are quite intense. You could ask the child, for example, "What is the best way to make money?" The child would reply with an answer specific to your question. He would probably say something like, "Start a business that provides insurance." If the asker of the question did this, that village will develop an insurance market.
The only problem with this is that the child is like a computer: he will answer only what is asked to him. Nothing more, nothing less will come out of his mouth. For example, if you ask the child "Can you tell me where my baby is?", the child genius will simply say, "Yes." (And in the story, the child can only be asked so many times.)
To prevent wasteful questions like the one above, the village developed an entire industry-caste as an advising service. A few people learned how to get the most out of each question and started to help other people form useful questions in exchange for other goods. One of these new advisors would tell you to ask the genius, "What steps can I take to have my child returned to me quickly and safely?"
In essence, a new industry was formed over asking questions to the genius.
Eventually, the genius grew up and started to answer questions more thoroughly. If you asked him, "Can you tell me where my child is?" The genius would not only say yes, but would proceed to tell you where your child is and how to get him/her back home safely. The genius would not only answer your specific question, but would explain all the implications involved. The advising industry was no longer needed. A whole bunch of people were out of a job.
This exemplifies a major problem with our job-based society. Our economic structure is set up that if one industry goes down, we are all in trouble.
A modern day example would be the health insurance industry. If we were to simplify health insurance and make everything more efficient, there would be a negative impact on our economy. Thousands of people have jobs in and rely on the health insurance industry for a living. If we were to improve that industry so those people were not needed, they're lifestyle would be destroyed.
An even better example would be the job of a computer programmer. Computers, as they are now, need people to maintain them, improve them, and fix them. What happens when we engineer a computer that does everything for itself? All the computer engineers would be out of a job. Self-induced joblessness. They will be out of a job because they did their job too well.
This concept can be applied to nearly every industry, and many of the examples involve the advancement of technology. Teachers, for example, could be replaced by computer teaching programs, possibly on the iPad.
Military pilots are slowly getting replaced by unmanned aircraft fighters. And yes, right now they still need a pilot on ground, but what happens when technology advances to the point where a pilot is no longer needed?
An obvious criticism of all this is, Won't new industries simply pop up in response to the new technology? Such as during the industrial revolution? Couldn't there be another similar technological revolution?
I suppose that is a possibility, but if the technology can create, repair, and improve itself, this seems unlikely. I can't help but see a matrix-like future where the obsolete computer programmers try to take down their own creations, who in turn respond aggressively to the human threat.
Eh. Best not to get too worried, it shouldn't happen for a while. Humans are still in business...at least for now.
I didn't realize they were all holding hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment