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Originally Posted by botsapper
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I love discussions about technology and the future, but was disappointed in this podcast. It was 2 people fighting it out for title of most liberal, with no economic facts to support their theories. The guest himself stated several times that he is not an economist, and the host kept steering him to agree with Marxist ideals.
While there is an inherent problem with the way capitalism allows those with more means to reinvest their assets for more income; an unsustainable outcome of any system that involves any rate of return, a worse condition exists than inequality. That poor condition is to be purposeless.
The host incorrectly assumes that everyone is like her; driven to learn and to apply their knowledge in work that is useful to the community. While that might be true for some, most people would rather play video games, watch TV, or check their Twitter. We live in an entertainment society where even the most poor among us own cell phones and find the means to pass the time. Depression is on the rise not due to inequality, but due to lack of purpose and the lack of immediate consequences of failing to provide for oneself.
The poorest among us live healthier and more entertained than the richest of kings from any time prior to the last century.
While being prideful is not a good trait, the opposite condition of being pride-less is perhaps even more detrimental.
We need a sense of purpose and connection to our communities, we need rewards for achievement, and we need real consequences for failure.
The cost of most everything in the future is going to plummet, but we won't be any happier unless we figure out how to retain a sense of purpose. While depression might be imbalanced serotonin levels in the brain, the underlying issue is more complex than simple chemistry in the form of a pill.
Our increasing consumption of entertainment likely correlates to our increasing feeling of our work not being valued. Not only are we small cogs in a machine, our place as a cog in the machine is being replaced with other machines!
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