No AI was used in the writing of this outside of research.
I’m reading the famous 1975 book by Michael Grant called “the Twelve Caesars”, and the introduction is phenomenal. On the cover is the Emperor Caligula, the third Emperor and 4th of 6 Julio-Claudian leaders including Julius Caesar. Nero is the last.
I’m reading the famous 1975 book by Michael Grant called “the Twelve Caesars”, and the introduction is phenomenal. On the cover is the Emperor Caligula, the third Emperor and 4th of 6 Julio-Claudian leaders including Julius Caesar. Nero is the last.
Plutarch writes that when Caesar died:
the great sun seemed to mourn,
that godless time trembled in fear of everlasting night.
Portents were given of earth and ocean;
vile dogs howled upon the roads,
and hideous strange birds cried aloud.
Mount Etna quaked, and her fires burst forth,
overflowing the fields of the Cyclops with flames.
The heavens were aflame, and stones melted,
while the thunder of war was heard in Germany,
shaking the granite Alps from south to north.
A voice pierced through the silent groves,
and wondrous pale apparitions were seen in the dead of night.
the great sun seemed to mourn,
that godless time trembled in fear of everlasting night.
Portents were given of earth and ocean;
vile dogs howled upon the roads,
and hideous strange birds cried aloud.
Mount Etna quaked, and her fires burst forth,
overflowing the fields of the Cyclops with flames.
The heavens were aflame, and stones melted,
while the thunder of war was heard in Germany,
shaking the granite Alps from south to north.
A voice pierced through the silent groves,
and wondrous pale apparitions were seen in the dead of night.
He talks about the power of the Emperors and their power is very often muted in retrospect by a compulsive itch to bury them in slander. But cults of emperor worship were common throughout the empire, with Rome having insinuated the militaries which were the source of nationalist pride and rebellion for subject peoples. Historically “Laws” over a vast domain are hard to enforce, often the laws were either massive infrastructure spending, tax gathering, or military requisition. Laws against “sumptuary” and ostentatious spending were hardly enforceable but well meaning, and it gets me to thinking about how when trying to solve a problem often “laws” can be counterproductive and create enemies of even well meaning ideologies just by virtue of the love of freedom over control. Systems which subtly manipulate norms, “mores”, and folkways could more effectively solve systemic problems. Often this is accomplished by sending onto the stage of the local high school a group of unrealistic, hyper vigilant dopamine fiends espousing the latest orthodoxy of bland, risk free living to a group of bored and resentful youths.
I have been thinking lately about the future of robots and AI and potential expansion of unemployment coupled with a massive surge in business productivity that could soon be upon us. There is incredible potential in this situation.
To paint the amazing scene I want gardens in every yard, tunnels connecting tunnels to underground canals with natural lighting provided by fiber optics and mirrors, with stacked and crisscrossed noise dampened subways jetting in and out of tunnels through gigantic cavernous walls. Endless natural tree-tunnels of grafted, stacked trees arching over shaded, peaceful neighborhoods full of luxurious abundant housing. Million ton aquariums sitting within subterranean structures with tunnels and rollercoasters speeding through miles and miles of multi tier parklands and immersive art worlds erected by teams wielding gigantic AI laser sculptor cannons.. conveyor belts delivering natural rocks, plants, and massive construction equipment forthe assembly line creation of dynamic and relaxing spaces. Building the most expensive and luxurious experiences in such abundance that they are next to free. Industrial scale sports facilities lined back to back for miles but interlaced like French braids with plexi glass walls. Golfers teeing off next to teetering ballerinas, and ice tunnels of luge racers flying through tubes built into shark infested aquarium tanks before emerging over a 20 story cavern and dropping into a freefall... Robust participation trophy organizations with activities that blend people of all ages and races together in giant handholding circles singing "we are the world".
To paint the amazing scene I want gardens in every yard, tunnels connecting tunnels to underground canals with natural lighting provided by fiber optics and mirrors, with stacked and crisscrossed noise dampened subways jetting in and out of tunnels through gigantic cavernous walls. Endless natural tree-tunnels of grafted, stacked trees arching over shaded, peaceful neighborhoods full of luxurious abundant housing. Million ton aquariums sitting within subterranean structures with tunnels and rollercoasters speeding through miles and miles of multi tier parklands and immersive art worlds erected by teams wielding gigantic AI laser sculptor cannons.. conveyor belts delivering natural rocks, plants, and massive construction equipment forthe assembly line creation of dynamic and relaxing spaces. Building the most expensive and luxurious experiences in such abundance that they are next to free. Industrial scale sports facilities lined back to back for miles but interlaced like French braids with plexi glass walls. Golfers teeing off next to teetering ballerinas, and ice tunnels of luge racers flying through tubes built into shark infested aquarium tanks before emerging over a 20 story cavern and dropping into a freefall... Robust participation trophy organizations with activities that blend people of all ages and races together in giant handholding circles singing "we are the world".
Now back to the practical world of reality in which we live. I’ve never been very enthusiastic about high taxation. I distrust large arbitrary systems to spend money wisely. Most of the national debt goes to "income" financed by people yet to be born.
But with the introduction of a massive pool of educated, skilled, and culturally sophisticated people into the pool of unemployed, there is a strong potential for left wing landslide elections. Populations seek to guard the dignity of their social class and guard others too.. but in my opinion this ratchets up pressure in a disjointed way (including inflation). It could create an overwhelming animus against people of wealth who will seem "aloof" as the situation matures. Functionaries will be making warped, kneejerk, disjointed decisions about money based on distorted and disconnected information . The few companies large enough to survive as government institutions before the new plutocracy develops will become political stooges and fringe berserkers will assume the mantel. They'll be wielding the hammer and sickle and jeering at you from official processions as you are relegated to lonely and forlorn street corners, eking out a meager existence by hunting for bunny rabbits with speers while wearing nothing but loin cloths... The efficiency of the “marketplace” will be replaced by drab, gray, self righteous offices of well meaning people pleasers crying out for more fake money to feed into the masses like loaves of bread into a wood chipper.
Participatory Sponsorship
Ok here's my idea and I could have worded it better, but try to use your imagination: instead of a direct tax to fund a massive unemployment pool, you have a system of Participatory Sponsorship. An actual competitive game will exist, where corporations, individuals, and pools of private companies will offer contracts to willing workers based on standardized statistics, job history, and any other token of quality. The sponsor is betting that they can improve the employability, popularity, and social prowess of the contestant. If the players are underemployed, the system strives to reward measurable personal advances and contributions to society. Keep in mind cultural and societal health are enormous factors in assessing the net worth of a civilization, and bringing more stakeholders into this reality could also be very beneficial.
But these sponsors can also bet on lower status individuals, and offer them conditions that would effectively constrain the disadvantaged person to conditions which proffer improvements in quality of life and connectedness. If you're an alcoholic, for example, you might hit the button on the remote control to vanquish alcohol from your life, but you’ll never follow through because it takes a village.
A: you are not a village
B: the village might not really give a $%$# about you, or even worse they might actively hate you.
But these sponsors can also bet on lower status individuals, and offer them conditions that would effectively constrain the disadvantaged person to conditions which proffer improvements in quality of life and connectedness. If you're an alcoholic, for example, you might hit the button on the remote control to vanquish alcohol from your life, but you’ll never follow through because it takes a village.
A: you are not a village
B: the village might not really give a $%$# about you, or even worse they might actively hate you.
..........This is why we need to monetize good will.
Check out my short article about how we could effectively create a crypto currency like bitcoin, but instead of mining using expensive energy, the value is based off the genuine quality of the impact of pro bono services like finding inefficiencies in business processes and solving bottlenecks in work/sales pipelines.
..........This is why we need to monetize good will.
Check out my short article about how we could effectively create a crypto currency like bitcoin, but instead of mining using expensive energy, the value is based off the genuine quality of the impact of pro bono services like finding inefficiencies in business processes and solving bottlenecks in work/sales pipelines.
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If a person has a history of run ins with the law, drug abuse, and homelessness, the only “contract” they might hope to attain in this gameplay structure would be one where they choose to submit to close monitoring and lifestyle restraints, before transitioning to a more lenient lifestyle. If you are overweight the administrators would want to include benchmarks and weight loss goals into the contract without being accused of barbaric fat shaming.
The groups or individuals which provide the systems compete with one another for the most amount of improvement like sports teams scores. Richer and more highly connected stakeholders' goal would be to produce players with highly marketable skills which conforms them to the demands of a more sophisticated job market.
It’s amazing what self improvement, increased physical activity and social interaction can do for people in a society where 29% of people have been diagnosed with depression at some time in their life. Also monetizing goodwill will give people a birds eye glimpse into what it’s like to have a village who actually cares. It will go to show that it really doesn't take that much to be happy, we just need the right systems in place and the right "recipe" to create utopic ideations even under circumstances of constrained resources.
Even the mentally ill and otherwise developmentally disabled would have the potential for vast increases in social currency which would put a win on the board for the sponsors, although the future marketability may be constrained in some cases at which point the public troth would still have to be involved- but they would in effect be playing with a “handicap” like in golf, and the sponsors would compete to make them the happiest. This solution works in part because of the competitive nature of the sponsor concept: the most efficient and the best will win, and others will adopt best practices in a continuous system of evolution.
The above image is a great example of "the soft bigotry of low expectations".
But the system is designed this way because games, gambling, and good entertainment is what people love- nobody wants to stop watching a great show or participating in a rewarding activity. If your own standing is on the line along with your team, and the meaning of the game is to produce disciplined, balanced, employed people, this game can be televised and served as entertainment in many different ways; people with a mind for publicity or those who wanna nourish a talent for public discourse can choose a “contract” in which they assume a more public program. People can be offered higher compensation for contracts with more public exposure. Metaphorically speaking: reward the neurons that make more connections with the treasure of being able to do so.
This game would also serve to pool likeminded people- teams of more esoteric and poetic people would naturally offer contracts to like-minded people, and with a stampede of weird players suddenly they let their freak off the leash and don’t feel like they constantly have to “mask” their true personalities. This also gives a specific type of administration and catering to the special needs of these people- with pipelines developed into the professional world based on the historical quality of talent from that group.
I could never get into Ayn Rands writing (yet) but she made hero's of the wealthy in Atlas Shrugged. Ressentiment (wikipedia link) becomes a lense through which people interpret the world in the slave mentality of Nietzsche. A chronic state of suppressed hostility in which someone feels powerless. Many do look up to rich people especially if they seem to contribute in meaningful ways. Many billionaires are very connected to philanthropy- but if there is a genius that created that dynamic system of wealth, to tease it out by essentially unlocking the barriers which separate wealth from public renown by essentially adjusting the norms of society around a loose expectation of “giving back” it would conceivable help more than just confiscating the wealth. It would also vastly increase the social influence and improve the public reception of rich people by baking their public contributions (which is much more than just giving money) into societal institutions.
It’s not like the system would be compulsory: if the conditions and freedoms you’re looking for aren’t offered in the Participatory Sponsorship contracts, or nobody wants to bid on you because you've already been canceled out of the whole system by your ex girlfriend, you can easily get a job at the mill shoveling sawdust into open burn pits, manually dissembling old car batteries, or using a belt sander to file down old lead pipes before filling them with asbestos and heaving them into the Atlantic ocean as "time capsules". I worked at a plastic manufacturing plant back in Canandaigua NY and I got a lot of great thinking done during those monotonous tasks.
If you're a psychiatrist, and you get home from a days work and tune in to the latest developments in ongoing gameplay, you could easily become immersed in the game yourself by reaching out to “your teams” and counseling your players on the neat little mental tricks to overcome obstacles to success. Entire newspapers and message boards would be dedicated to tracking the health and prosperity of these “tunnels to employment”.
In this way much of the extra income from the situation of increased production and increased unemployment would be willingly handed over out of an “incentivized altruism” rather than funneled through corrupt and inefficient bureaucracies that punish the members of the opposite political party every 4 or 8 years and only spares the sheepish silent ones terrified to say anything.
In this way much of the extra income from the situation of increased production and increased unemployment would be willingly handed over out of an “incentivized altruism” rather than funneled through corrupt and inefficient bureaucracies that punish the members of the opposite political party every 4 or 8 years and only spares the sheepish silent ones terrified to say anything.
