We are the borg.

In some cases those implants are intended to restore at least partial function to people who have suffered brain damage or who are otherwise suffering from mental/neurological diseases.

These weren't prosthetic devices or medical aids. They were novelty and entertainment devices directly connected to their brains.

Sidartha wrote:

shiftless2 wrote:

In some cases those implants are intended to restore at least partial function to people who have suffered brain damage or who are otherwise suffering from mental/neurological diseases.

These weren't prosthetic devices or medical aids. They were novelty and entertainment devices directly connected to their brains.

Sounds creepy, like in real creepy.

I seem to recall an experiment years ago when they wired laboratory rats with an implant directly to their pleasure centres, then put them in a cage where they had two levers - one stimulated the pleasure centre, the other provided food.

They starved to death ...

... but with big grins.

I know!

Big DEAD grins Oskar.

But maybe not. What about that period of time when they were so weak from hunger they couldn't push either lever?

Sounds like something out of Larry Niven's "Tales of Known Space"

"The Wire" Shift? I think that's in one of the later Ringworld books as well.

Niven featured wireheads in a number of his stories.

Just another small step ...

And yet the unemployment rate in South Korea is around 4% ... go figure ...

They also have a huge manufacturing base relative to their population.

Due to automation?

No idea why but S. Korea seems to produce a very high volume of manufactured goods/capita. I suspect it has something to do with a lack of natural resources... other than people.

Sort of undercuts the idea that automation=unemployment though doesn't it?

Personally I'll believe it when I can't think of anything worthwhile that people could do to benefit society, and I suspect that will be a LONG time away.

I've never been of the opinion that automation kills jobs. It changes the nature of the jobs and those who refuse to adapt are screwed.

It's not as simple as "refusing to adapt" - many of the new jobs are relatively technical in nature and a lot of people who simply can't handle the academic skills necessary to perform those jobs.

You guys beat me to it. Dems and Grabem supporters are dreaming of a return to the good old days when a Grade 6 education and a John Deere cap could get you a high paying low skilled factory job. It just isn't going to happen anymore. To get along today you don't just need specialized skills but currently required specialized skills. Even the education system is behind the curve on this one. Training people for the skills that were needed yesterday not the ones needed tomorrow and definitely not training people in how to be trained. We used to talk about the time coming when people would have three or four careers during a lifetime. That day is here.

What makes me curious is America's supposedly 4% unemployment rate. What are the jobs that are being created. They certainly aren't the old time high paying manufacturing jobs. They've got to be either high skilled or very low skilled service type jobs. Wages would seem to indicate the latter. There was a brief bump back in January but that was due mainly to minimum wages being increased in a number of states.

Its not just a matter of super high-tech jobs. There are 70,000 "structurally deficient" bridges in the US and the roads aren't great either. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/falling-ap ... structure/

That's a lot of potential work for a lot of people.

Unemployment isn't a product of a lack of useful work that could be done ....

I read an article a while back about one of the adult training programs (think it was in BC but not positive). In any case, the guy teaching plumbing said that the classes were full and there was a waiting list. A long waiting list. After all, someone was going to show them how to turn a wrench and they'd be pretty much guaranteed full time work starting at $65,000 a year. In any case, the students were interested and most worked hard for about two weeks until the topic turned to flow rates - pretty basic math - at which point attendance dropped by half. According to him, the guy that was teaching the electricians' course said the same thing - as soon as he started talking about the resistance/impedance of a series/parallel circuit that was the end of it for at least half the class.

On that topic, in my grad student days I taught theory classes to my local ham radio club and found that I had to start by teaching fractions to at least half the adults in the room.

BC Institute of Technology runs a one year course that is supposed to give students a grounding in whatever trade they are interested in. If they pass and get an apprenticeship most employers will grant them a year's credit toward their trade (they still have to put in the required hours but it does increase their pay). Of every hundred kids and adults who enter the program I doubt there's a quarter that graduate. They don't realize just how much academics go into virtually all trades. As I've said before, over the course of his lifetime a plumber will make as much or more than most doctors and they are worth it.