Trying to avoid these ridiculous threads … the fear is so thick I can taste it … and yet over 12,000 nuclear warheads ready to rock and roll at a moments notice … and you folks are concerned about electricity and AI … too funny.

IBTL. 😉

11 hours ago, SayAgain said:

Trying to avoid these ridiculous threads … the fear is so thick I can taste it

Then why comment if you're "trying to avoid these threads"?

It's not "fear", but concern, which is completely normal.  Society needs to start planning for a big economic transition now instead of waiting until when tens of thousands of folks start getting laid off every few months.

Lastly, you'd be concerned about electricity, too, if your bill doubles in a couple years because the massive data center down the road consumes so much power that the utility has to spend hundreds of millions to cope with it.

Dave

11 hours ago, dave2013 said:

If you're talking 50 or 100 years from now, then yes, maybe robots will be able to do all the work and we'll just spend our days enjoying ourselves and frolicking in the meadows and forests.  A new Eden, if you will.

Human beings, people, need to be productive.  Enjoying yourself is not productive.  Your favorite pastimes which excite you now lose that excitement when done day after day.  From stamp collecting to fishing to playing tennis to watching Gunsmoke on television day after day you become bored.  None of those things are creative or productive.

I know whereof I speak.  Here at Peachtree (I call it a warehouse for old folks) I have been playing Bingo and poker, attending ice cream socials and happy hours, and watching the old movies and sitcoms of my generation for two years now.  My primary link with the outside world is the AVSIM forum where I can sometimes make a small contribution.

I do a bit of writing just to keep the synapses sparking.  So I'm here to tell you that productivity and accomplishment are what keep you alive.  I fear for the coming generations who might lose those satisfactions to AI and robots.

Noel

Well stated, Noel.

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

Human beings, people, need to be productive.  Enjoying yourself is not productive.  Your favorite pastimes which excite you now lose that excitement when done day after day.  From stamp collecting to fishing to playing tennis to watching Gunsmoke on television day after day you become bored.  None of those things are creative or productive.

I know whereof I speak.  Here at Peachtree (I call it a warehouse for old folks) I have been playing Bingo and poker, attending ice cream socials and happy hours, and watching the old movies and sitcoms of my generation for two years now.  My primary link with the outside world is the AVSIM forum where I can sometimes make a small contribution.

I do a bit of writing just to keep the synapses sparking.  So I'm here to tell you that productivity and accomplishment are what keep you alive.  I fear for the coming generations who might lose those satisfactions to AI and robots.

Noel

 

2 hours ago, birdguy said:

Enjoying yourself is not productive.

 

Many enjoyable things are productive. 

2 hours ago, birdguy said:

I do a bit of writing just to keep the synapses sparking.  So I'm here to tell you that productivity and accomplishment are what keep you alive. 

 

And you do that voluntarily, in your leisure time.... no different to a future time when people can do the same in their leisure time. 

45 minutes ago, martin-w said:

 

And you do that voluntarily, in your leisure time.... no different to a future time when people can do the same in their leisure time. 

I do that in my leisure time because that's all I've got.  It's not the same as having a career with advancements and promotions based on your productivity.  What you produce in the workplace measures your worth as a human being.  Otherwise we are simply drones enjoying ourselves until we get bored.  What do you have to look forward to just supposedly enjoying yourself day after day simply entertaining yourself?

I very much enjoyed flightsimming as a hobby.  I'm sure I would tire of it if it were all I had to look forward to day after day with maybe a break to play dominoes now and then.  

I write voluntarily in my leisure time but to what end?  To sell a story or article to a magazine.  A sense of accomplishment with rewards.  But simply writing as a pastime because magazines could publish AI written articles without having to pay an author for them makes that writing a hobby, not a profession.

People have to feel useful.  otherwise we are drones.  

You are techie Martin.  You thrive on technology.  But be aware where that technology can lead.  If it is to world of human drones simply enjoying themselves until they die of boredom is that helping us?  I would not want to be a goldfish in a beautiful bowl replete with fake plants and underwater castles where an 'AI' hand feeds me and changes my water once a week.

Noel

3 hours ago, birdguy said:

Human beings, people, need to be productive.  Enjoying yourself is not productive.

I was being sarcastic, Noel, with my comment about robots doing all the work and we humans just enjoy ourselves.  

Most people do need to be productive.  It's not good to lay around all day and do nothing.  

I retired relatively young at 55 and find myself bored too much of the time, which bothers me.  I do stay productive working on fightsim planes and scenery, but that gets old after a while.  I might end up having to find something more, like a part-time job or volunteer work.

Dave

4 hours ago, dave2013 said:

you'd be concerned about electricity, too, if your bill doubles

If our bill doubles, we'll just pay it.  We might have to buy fewer aircraft and less scenery for our flight sims every month.

The real concern is when the rolling blackouts start.  

We had a severe winter storm here one year and lost electricity for a week or two.  Luckily we had propane heating at the time, so kept warm.  We had a land line phone back then which still worked as they're powered separately from the wall outlets.  I spent the time reading Stephen King novels by oil lantern and candle light.  Seemed appropriate as I felt like I was living in a Stephen King novel.

Solar might have helped if there had been any sunlight. 🙂 

Hook

Hook

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

It's not the same as having a career with advancements and promotions based on your productivity.  What you produce in the workplace measures your worth as a human being. 

 

No way! Sorry, Noel but a person's worth is nothing to do with what they produce, in the workplace to make somebody else wealthy. Human beings are more than just 9 to 5 drones.

You don't need advancements and promotions to have a fulfilling life. Advancements and promotions are just what somebody else grants you to encourage you to continue making money for them.

There's a myriad of fulllfilng activities a person can do to provide a sense of achievement and contentment that are nothing to do with being an employee. 

Sure, there are some people that get a kick out of climbing the corporate ladder and getting promoted higher than the guy in the next desk, but there's a multitude of endeavors out there that a person in a future world with significantly more leisure time would find worthwhile and fulfilling.

 

1 hour ago, birdguy said:

You are techie Martin.  You thrive on technology.  But be aware where that technology can lead.  If it is to world of human drones simply enjoying themselves until they die of boredom is that helping us? 

 

Theres no excuse for boredom, and the world is currently full of 9 to 5 drones, stuck in the rat race, desperate to escape to freedom. 

1 hour ago, LHookins said:

We had a severe winter storm here one year and lost electricity for a week or two.  Luckily we had propane heating at the time, so kept warm. 

Yeah, all of our appliances and heating are electric, so if we lose power we're in trouble.

I'm looking at getting a 10000W generator as I've got a couple 5-gal gasoline tanks and a 30lb propane tank.  This would be enough to keep the fridge/freezer,  couple of 1500W heaters, computers, TV running and phones charged.  We've got candles and several LED flashlights and a lantern for light.  

Dave

Edited November 14, 2025Nov 14 by dave2013

1 hour ago, martin-w said:

 

No way! Sorry, Noel but a person's worth is nothing to do with what they produce, in the workplace to make somebody else wealthy.

No Way!  Sorry, Martin but a person's self worth has a lot to do with what they produce in the workplace.  I took a lot of pride in graduating from an electronic technician to a non-degreed engineer.  As a tech working for an engineer I took direction from him.  But solving his problems and pointing out his mistakes before he made them gave me a lot of satisfaction.  The ability to solve problems demonstrated my worth to my employer and to myself.  And I earned money, and raises, as I was making money for my employer.  You are showing your perceived elitism.  The workplace where the vast majority of us spent our working lives is where we functioned and grew and made something of ourselves.  I'm proud that I could do that.

While in the Air Force finding more efficient ways to do things and eliminating wasted time earned me commendations and promotions.  I happen to be proud of those things even if you think they might be bourgeois.  

The vast majority of us have worked in the workplace to make somebody else wealthy.  Perhaps you have not.  But to say a person's self worth has nothing to do with what they produce in the workplace sounds quite a bit elitist to me.

Plus being a published writer and photographer also contributed to my self worth.

Noel

Guys....way off topic!  Take the hint!