> If you believe that everybody has a right to food, are you prepared to take away the property rights of land owners so that you can grow the food?
Not at all. Discontinue all farm subsidies. Purchase farm land at fire sale prices. Provide jobs to the unemployed through farming what can't be automated, and automate the rest. Food provided.
> If you believe that everybody has a right to medical care ("medical care" being defined as the services of a doctor), are you prepared to take away the rights of doctors to their labor?
Take their rights away? No. Destroy their income earning ability? Probably. I would provide more rights to nurse practitioners, subsidize their training with job guarantees, and automate most doctor decision making to expert systems. I would invest heavily (through DARPA and the NIH) in continuing the development of vaccines and protocols for chronic illnesses (thereby providing STEM jobs), and leveraging DARPA (again), continue to invest in robotics for robotic surgery apparatus (a la DiVinci Surgical System).
Socialism and capitalism may dine together now, at the table of ruthless efficiency.
> Provide jobs to the unemployed through farming...
It's actually possible to earn more than minimum wage as a farm laborer, yet there is a farm labor shortage and a drive by the UFW to recruit the unemployed met with astonishingly poor results. See http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Berry-growers-UFW-beg....
> Take their rights away? No. Destroy their income earning ability? Probably.
That's a great idea. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it. I guess I forgot that no doctors have ever opted not to accept Medicare.
Taking your epiphany a step further, since software is such an important part of life and the economy, maybe we can destroy the income earning ability of software engineers too while we're at it. I'm sure everybody around here would be happy with the arrangement.
> I would provide more rights to nurse practitioners, subsidize their training with job guarantees...I would invest heavily (through DARPA and the NIH) in continuing the development of vaccines and protocols for chronic illnesses (thereby providing STEM jobs), and leveraging DARPA (again), continue to invest in robotics for robotic surgery apparatus (a la DiVinci Surgical System).
Thank goodness the United States government doesn't have a problem with debt. If it did, all of your investments and guarantees might be impossible to make.
I don't really feel the need to rebut you point by point. Yes, technology will provide efficiencies and excess that can be used to benefit society as a whole instead of a select few. Yes, it is possible to provide these things without forcing someone to provide their labor.
Automation is going to destroy the income of everyone. Unskilled labor? Almost done. Semi-skilled labor? Coming around the corner. Doctors? Lawyers? Code. Are you going to complain that open source software destroys the income of developers too?
I know your type. "I've got mine, fuck you. Get some bootstraps." If you don't like having a social fabric, which includes caring for the weakest among us, Get. The. Fuck. Out.
> Are you going to complain that open source software destroys the income of developers too?
Even open source software needs support, maintenance, optimization and customization. Even if Linux is OSS, Google still has their own in-house kernel team (and I bet the same happens downstream at Samsung). Apple with LLVM is another example. Some people/companies are willing to pay to get more features/support/bugfixes for FOSS projects, and there's always going to be more work to do.
I can't think of any open source project that was ever finished; for an example of the opposite, look at Wine.
> I don't really feel the need to rebut you point by point.
Of course you don't. That would require you to continue to make arguments that are at odds with economic reality.
> Automation is going to destroy the income of everyone.
So when are you changing your username from toomuchtodo to nothingtodo?
> I know your type. "I've got mine, fuck you. Get some bootstraps." If you don't like having a social fabric, which includes caring for the weakest among us, Get. The. Fuck. Out.
If I take your kindly-worded suggestion, how will you seize my labor? And where should I turn in my property before I leave?
Sir (or Mam), I wouldn't accept your labor nor your property voluntarily, let alone seize it. I empathize with whatever has brought you to the point of "keep what you kill and let the weak perish". Enjoy how you choose to spend your resources, I know how I want to spend mine.
> I wouldn't accept your labor nor your property voluntarily, let alone seize it.
And what of the labor and property of lawyers, doctors, investment bankers, Silicon Valley multimillionaires? You're going to have a hard time delivering and paying for all the promises and investments you wrote of if you're picky about who you're willing to take from.
> Enjoy how you choose to spend your resources, I know how I want to spend mine.
That, my friend, is individual liberty. I'm glad that despite your vitriol, you seem to agree that it's a wonderful thing.
One modest suggestion, however: you shouldn't presume to know how others spend their resources. A person you're quick to curse as cold-hearted might be far more charitable than you ever imagined, and, in both relative and absolute terms, perhaps far more charitable than you.
Not at all. Discontinue all farm subsidies. Purchase farm land at fire sale prices. Provide jobs to the unemployed through farming what can't be automated, and automate the rest. Food provided.
> If you believe that everybody has a right to medical care ("medical care" being defined as the services of a doctor), are you prepared to take away the rights of doctors to their labor?
Take their rights away? No. Destroy their income earning ability? Probably. I would provide more rights to nurse practitioners, subsidize their training with job guarantees, and automate most doctor decision making to expert systems. I would invest heavily (through DARPA and the NIH) in continuing the development of vaccines and protocols for chronic illnesses (thereby providing STEM jobs), and leveraging DARPA (again), continue to invest in robotics for robotic surgery apparatus (a la DiVinci Surgical System).
Socialism and capitalism may dine together now, at the table of ruthless efficiency.