THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
The Neolithic Revolution lasted 6,000 years; it was another 6,000 years before the Industrial Revolution actually began. The Industrial Revolution is actually four revolutions identified by four phases: 1-Mechanization, 2-Mass Production, 3-Automation, and 4-Cyber-Physical Automation. We have been living in the Industrial Revolution for only two centuries, yet we are already well into the final phase—Cyber-Physical Automation.
It is going to be quite a ride; a real job killer, corporate profit vs. labor continues. It will look like labor vs. artificial intelligence, but it’s still all about profit. Cars and trucks without drivers. The oil economy will sputter and grind down, internal combustion will end, auto shops and service stations will disappear, and any remaining oil will stay in the ground. All energy will come from renewable sources. Shared access, especially with regard to transportation, will begin to replace ownership, reducing demand in many markets. Many corporations will shut down, and many jobs will become obsolete. Artificial Intelligence will outperform expert humans, and automation will replace labor at an increasing rate. 3-D printer technology will advance rapidly, and production will begin to shift from centralized to local.
In the words of Jacque Fresco, “If you have a job, it is only because it hasn’t been automated yet.” This statement is more profound than most realize; job loss due to automation is about to shift into high gear. OK, not all jobs will disappear. Scientists, engineers, technicians, resource planners, teachers, nurses, care givers and the like will always be needed in any technological future. Unless we develop robots that are almost indistinguishable from humans and they can laugh, cry, and get their feelings hurt, people will still prefer the caring reassurance and the smile that only another human can provide. All this notwithstanding, the real threat within this technological transition is hidden within the structure of capitalism itself. The irony is that capitalism, due to its built-in primal profit imperatives, will relentlessly drive this revolution forward, replacing workers with tech at every opportunity. Due to the roles of debt and labor within the structure of capitalism, this cyber-physical transition will cripple the economy—just like the mythical ouroboros, devouring itself simply trying to survive.
The media continuously reminds us that the engine of our economy is a hard-working nation of consumers that love to go shopping. Although true to some extent, this dumbed-down misleading definition provides virtually no insight into how the economy actually works. In truth, the engine of our economy is not the money we spend; it is the debt we create. It’s our debt that actually produces the currency in our economy. We create new money when we borrow money to buy a house or a new car, take out a student loan, or use our credit cards. In fact, money and debt are technically the same thing. Every dollar in circulation is simply a certificate of debt owed to a bank. When we make a bank payment, that amount of debt annihilates along with the money we paid it with. In other words, when we get a loan, money is created and when we pay for the loan, money is destroyed. If all debt were somehow paid, there would be no money in circulation at all. In reality, that can’t happen because the total money in circulation is never enough to pay even half of a nation’s private debt. And, the national debt? Well, that’s just silly. In any case, without jobs people can’t get loans, and without loans we can’t maintain the money supply. Certainly, there will be many Fed-led mitigating interventions such as Quantitative Easing (QE) and Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI). However, without a true economic transformation, the global economy will inevitably collapse. There is a financial monster lurking in our future simply because our economic system and cyber-physical automation are incompatible.
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