Hacker News Reader

Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

> The Developed World can not continue with it's standard of living, it's simply not sustainable. Something has to give.

That's not true _at all_. How productive are self-driving cars going to be with no drivers? And electric powertrains? Very! Why would a government allow Uber to have a monopoly on that? They're government owned roads!

You can entirely continue to provide a high quality of life to citizens of a developed country using automation and software.

Shall we continue to socialize the losses and privatize the gains in society? Pardon me for being crass, but fuck that noise.

View on HN

> That's not true _at all_.

Go and spend some time in the developing world, then you'll reevaluate that statement.

What you don't see/realize is that we've simply outsourced slavery. The reason your iPhone, etc. are so damn cheap is becuase there are slaves building it, who have a standard of living way, way, way lower than yours.

I'm saying it has to equalize globally, which means our has to come down.

I cried when I visited the silver mines in Bolivia - http://theroadchoseme.com/potosi

> What you don't see/realize is that we've simply outsourced slavery. The reason your iPhone, etc. are so damn cheap is becuase there are slaves building it, who have a standard of living way, way, way lower than yours.

Foxconn is replacing most of its workers with robots. Most work can be replaced with software and/or robotics in the next 5-20 years.

> I'm saying it has to equalize globally, which means our has to come down.

Completely disagree. Perhaps on meat consumption, and petroleum use (both which need to decline across the entire world).

> I cried when I visited the silver mines in Bolivia

There are responsible ways for mining for the resources you need.

That has more to do with poor governance than rich countries consuming too much. Bolivia has all the natural resources necessary to provide its people with a high quality of life, but education and corruption act against that.

I live in the country that makes your iPhone. Same here also.

But still , that calls for something like UBER with democratic vote over it's decisions. And since most people will be consumers ,not employees of that service , the incentive towards how to manage it's drivers would be the same.

> But still , that calls for something like UBER with democratic vote over it's decisions. And since most people will be consumers ,not employees of that service , the incentive towards how to manage it's drivers would be the same.

You mean like mass transit provided by a government org? You own the roads, you make the rules.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com