New Economics
Economics as we now know it is a "social science" where social implies the absolute need of not only humans but
groups of humans in a society.
Current economics is so accustomed to a "growing economy" that it doesn't offer good alternatives for a situation
where the human population is shrinking and being replaced by automated systems.
Japan is an example of this. Some economists believe that Japan is a dying economy simply because their
population is shrinking. This may be true if one only considers classical economics. Perhaps we need a new
economics. To attempt envisioning such a new economics, let us imagine a scenario where the ratio of robots to
humans is even more exaggerated than it is in Japan at present.
Theoretical Example to assist in Analysis
Picture, if you will, an island run by a single human who owns six robots, which are variations of those shown in this
video:
http://youtu.be/Jb5a4wUgY4Q
He drills for oil and finds it. His annual
income is about $10 million from the oil production.
He builds an atom bomb and puts it into an autonomous submarine which will act as a "suicide bomber" to any
country who attacks him.
His economy expands simply because he has $10 million per year to invest in new robots to do an increased
amount of work. He calls his nation, His Nation. His economy grows at 100% per year simply because his costs
are low and profit margins high.
Question 1: Compared to the current US economy, he lacks many 'consumers' in the sense that all the robots need
is a little bit of electricity. Is this a true disadvantage since it could be said that he is simply more efficient.
Question 2: Does his simple approach to "National Defense" leave you feeling that (once again) he simply is not
spending enough money to stimulate the economy? Why would an economy that is expanding at 30% need any
more stimulation?
Question 3: If he starts an airline and uses robots as pilots, wouldn't he be able to undercut every other airline's
airfares? Wouldn't his airline eventually put all other airlines out of business or at least force them to respond in
kind?
Question 4: Could robots be designed to lack any desire for their own advancement of power? If so, would this
human have no need to have a police force or prisons to keep the riffraff off of the streets?
Question 5: How can such a society have so many advantages and yet not succeed because human economists
would say that his economy needs "consumers" and "workers who commute and consume energy and need roads".
Does his economy need "high paid human pilots" so that he can have a "solid middle class" where people "make a
decent income". Doesn't much of what we now call economic theory need to be rewritten given the trends toward
more and more automation?
At a 100% per year growth rate, his economy will double each year. He is taking over the airlines industry and then
the boat manufacturing business. He purchases islands from Greece who simply needs the money to stay afloat. He
then takes over the shipping business as well as manufacturing trains. Eventually he manufactures all of the items
that China has recently taken over manufacturing. He simply can beat the 10 cents per hour labor rate.
By doubling every year for the first ten years, he has become about 1000 times the size of the original economy of $10
million. This is still only $10 billion. During the next ten years, he needs more land and purchases large swaths of
land from poor nations who want their population to be near the economically successful nation. After this next ten
years, His Nation hits $10 Trillion and is on the brink of being the largest nation in the world in terms of economics.
He sets up a welfare state for any country who will agree to let him completely take over their government. At first
only 3 nations agree, but as unemployment spreads and then hunger, his offer of human welfare becomes
attractive and democracies vote for him to take over their country.
Countries who don't vote to let him take over, finally ban all human labor unions and let the robots take over all
jobs so that they can compete with Robot Nation. Humans who object are thrown into prison at first and then it
becomes obvious that supporting those people in prisons place such a nation at an economic disadvantage. The
only way to compete with His Nation is to execute all prisoners. This competition causes His Nation to start to
eliminate its human population. At first, everyone with an IQ under 100 is sacrificed.
Tell me what happens next...
donbot
Next
Economics as we now know it is a "social science" where social implies the absolute need of not only humans but
groups of humans in a society.
Current economics is so accustomed to a "growing economy" that it doesn't offer good alternatives for a situation
where the human population is shrinking and being replaced by automated systems.
Japan is an example of this. Some economists believe that Japan is a dying economy simply because their
population is shrinking. This may be true if one only considers classical economics. Perhaps we need a new
economics. To attempt envisioning such a new economics, let us imagine a scenario where the ratio of robots to
humans is even more exaggerated than it is in Japan at present.
Theoretical Example to assist in Analysis
Picture, if you will, an island run by a single human who owns six robots, which are variations of those shown in this
video:
http://youtu.be/Jb5a4wUgY4Q
He drills for oil and finds it. His annual
income is about $10 million from the oil production.
He builds an atom bomb and puts it into an autonomous submarine which will act as a "suicide bomber" to any
country who attacks him.
His economy expands simply because he has $10 million per year to invest in new robots to do an increased
amount of work. He calls his nation, His Nation. His economy grows at 100% per year simply because his costs
are low and profit margins high.
Question 1: Compared to the current US economy, he lacks many 'consumers' in the sense that all the robots need
is a little bit of electricity. Is this a true disadvantage since it could be said that he is simply more efficient.
Question 2: Does his simple approach to "National Defense" leave you feeling that (once again) he simply is not
spending enough money to stimulate the economy? Why would an economy that is expanding at 30% need any
more stimulation?
Question 3: If he starts an airline and uses robots as pilots, wouldn't he be able to undercut every other airline's
airfares? Wouldn't his airline eventually put all other airlines out of business or at least force them to respond in
kind?
Question 4: Could robots be designed to lack any desire for their own advancement of power? If so, would this
human have no need to have a police force or prisons to keep the riffraff off of the streets?
Question 5: How can such a society have so many advantages and yet not succeed because human economists
would say that his economy needs "consumers" and "workers who commute and consume energy and need roads".
Does his economy need "high paid human pilots" so that he can have a "solid middle class" where people "make a
decent income". Doesn't much of what we now call economic theory need to be rewritten given the trends toward
more and more automation?
At a 100% per year growth rate, his economy will double each year. He is taking over the airlines industry and then
the boat manufacturing business. He purchases islands from Greece who simply needs the money to stay afloat. He
then takes over the shipping business as well as manufacturing trains. Eventually he manufactures all of the items
that China has recently taken over manufacturing. He simply can beat the 10 cents per hour labor rate.
By doubling every year for the first ten years, he has become about 1000 times the size of the original economy of $10
million. This is still only $10 billion. During the next ten years, he needs more land and purchases large swaths of
land from poor nations who want their population to be near the economically successful nation. After this next ten
years, His Nation hits $10 Trillion and is on the brink of being the largest nation in the world in terms of economics.
He sets up a welfare state for any country who will agree to let him completely take over their government. At first
only 3 nations agree, but as unemployment spreads and then hunger, his offer of human welfare becomes
attractive and democracies vote for him to take over their country.
Countries who don't vote to let him take over, finally ban all human labor unions and let the robots take over all
jobs so that they can compete with Robot Nation. Humans who object are thrown into prison at first and then it
becomes obvious that supporting those people in prisons place such a nation at an economic disadvantage. The
only way to compete with His Nation is to execute all prisoners. This competition causes His Nation to start to
eliminate its human population. At first, everyone with an IQ under 100 is sacrificed.
Tell me what happens next...
donbot
Next
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