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Old 03-26-2023, 08:31 PM   #1
David Johnston2
 
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Default What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

Is there a single job in the TS setting that wouldn't be better done by a machine?
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Old 03-26-2023, 09:25 PM   #2
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

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Is there a single job in the TS setting that wouldn't be better done by a machine?
Machines that could replace humans in the setting are generally very low performance and only equal low performing humans i.e. skill-12. So there are lots of jobs that a truly talented human can't be replaced at.
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Old 03-27-2023, 01:13 AM   #3
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

Canonically botbosses and politicians (including by lottery in some cyberdemocracies).
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Old 03-27-2023, 06:20 AM   #4
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

A good SAI would probably be a better botboss than most humans. But good SAIs are expensive and come with social complications.

Which brings us round to the best (not necessarily perfect) answer to the question; "best" has to encompass cost, or it doesn't mean anything. Some jobs can likely be done cheaper by humans when all associated costs are factored in, and there may sometimes be social or PR problems associated with employing high-end AIs or bioroids.

Note that this is unlikely to be a stable situation in the medium or long term.
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Old 03-28-2023, 03:56 PM   #5
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

It seems to me that robotics, by its nature, upends Capitalism. It doesn't imply a post-scarcity society, but each major drop in scarcity (hunter-gatherer to farmers, farmers to industrial) has created basically different societies with major rule changes. The introduction of robotics, especially if combined with fusion, nanotechnology, AI, and advanced biotechnology, would be on the same level as agriculture or industrialization.

Humans would redefine their usefulness. Economic usefulness would be for machines. Humans would invent new standards to measure their use.
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Old 03-29-2023, 02:35 AM   #6
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

Criminal careers require professionals without Honesty.
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Old 04-20-2023, 11:13 PM   #7
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

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Is there a single job in the TS setting that wouldn't be better done by a machine?
Not many, and some of the ones presented in-canon really don't make sense on their own terms.
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Old 04-21-2023, 11:40 AM   #8
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

does Transhuman space actually have the economic capacity and time to replace all of those people though? I thought a fair number of these technologies are fairly new.
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Old 04-21-2023, 01:05 PM   #9
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

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does Transhuman space actually have the economic capacity and time to replace all of those people though? I thought a fair number of these technologies are fairly new.
Economics and Transhumanism aren't often seen in each other's company. Nanotechnology and AI are simply assumed to be wildly productive and the value of their output is just hand-waived.
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Old 04-21-2023, 02:59 PM   #10
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Default Re: What Use Do Humans Have in Transhuman Space?

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does Transhuman space actually have the economic capacity and time to replace all of those people though? I thought a fair number of these technologies are fairly new.
Well if 33 years before canon date is new then yes. LAI with IQ 10 were introduced the same year. In 2079 a shipping company began replacing entire crews with Bioroids. It seems fairly plausible that THS Earth will have to grapple with the effects of non-free labour on their societies, the same way that the late Roman Republic and Antebellum US did.
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