Oct 17 2012: Yes, the trend is toward greater prosperity for everyone, but at different rates. And that's really the thing that bugs me, but I know it can't be any different.
Oct 17 2012: @Kirsztian
Throughout history, those who would oppose to the king and the noblemen would get killed off quickly and almost nothing would change. Today is a different time. And yes, it's true that the life of the poor has been better and better in the recent hundred years, but are we reaching the peak?
@Pat
I'm not referring to any countries. I remember reading a research some time ago which found that the number of millionaires has dropped in the last few years (or that the number of new millionaires is slowly dropping), but the net worth of them is increasing. However, I can't remember exactly where I found it...
Oct 16 2012: Well, I can say nothing but agree with you, Krisztian. There is one thing I must add, the low wages of the unskilled will mean an even bigger gap between the rich and the poor and that could lead to a revolution...
Oct 16 2012: Hi Jon,
You seem to be concentrating mainly on the issue of the unemployment crisis in the USA, but almost every country in the world has their own unemployment crisis. Yes, technology is creating a spectrum of work opportunities, but only to those with enough knowledge. You know, not everyone can work on the making of robots and their upgrading so I fear that lower classes will have problems finding work. And at one time, we will come to the point when robots will be making other robots who can do some types of work better than we can and then only a few people will be needed to overseer them. And the fact is we can't all work as scientists or caterers (not sure this is the word, but I can't find a better one).
Oct 14 2012: Well, we can't know for sure, but for the sake of discussion I'd say I'm against. I think that we will somehow be able to overcome the problems we're facing now (pollution, lack of resources, overpopulation) and that there is a future to hope for. This is an interesting time to live in. We still don't have robots to do all of our jobs for us like in some of the sci-fi movies, but we have constructed robots that can do certain jobs better than us, taking our jobs and thus contributing to the unemployment crisis. Emerging technologies will probably provide new jobs for us, but we have to balance out the amount of work being done by robots and the amount of work being done by humans. In my opinion, one thing is certain, we will have to come up with a new economic system because this one is outdated. Not many people think about it, but we've been using practically the same system for around 4 000 years (Ancient Egyptian used the same system we use now). There have been political revolutions, social revolutions and more recently technological revolution. There has to be an economic revolution if we are to have a successful future and I feel that we will be successful.
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A reply on Conversation: Debate: The Millennial generation has no hope.
A reply on Conversation: Debate: The Millennial generation has no hope.
A comment on Conversation: Debate: The Millennial generation has no hope.
Throughout history, those who would oppose to the king and the noblemen would get killed off quickly and almost nothing would change. Today is a different time. And yes, it's true that the life of the poor has been better and better in the recent hundred years, but are we reaching the peak?
@Pat
I'm not referring to any countries. I remember reading a research some time ago which found that the number of millionaires has dropped in the last few years (or that the number of new millionaires is slowly dropping), but the net worth of them is increasing. However, I can't remember exactly where I found it...
A comment on Conversation: Debate: The Millennial generation has no hope.
A reply on Conversation: Debate: The Millennial generation has no hope.
You seem to be concentrating mainly on the issue of the unemployment crisis in the USA, but almost every country in the world has their own unemployment crisis. Yes, technology is creating a spectrum of work opportunities, but only to those with enough knowledge. You know, not everyone can work on the making of robots and their upgrading so I fear that lower classes will have problems finding work. And at one time, we will come to the point when robots will be making other robots who can do some types of work better than we can and then only a few people will be needed to overseer them. And the fact is we can't all work as scientists or caterers (not sure this is the word, but I can't find a better one).
A comment on Conversation: Debate: The Millennial generation has no hope.