Adam’s Peace

Vera Nadine has written a fascinating view of her perfect future. I would like to follow suit and show the world what I would consider ideal.

First, I don’t think that corporations should go away. There is something to be said about an organization created around one single goal with the legal rights of a person and the strength of several thousands of people.

That doesn’t mean that I think corporations today are a ‘good’ thing. Just like any tool, they can be used and misused. Today’s corporations are created with their primary goal being to make money for their investors. This is an evolution from a free market society, and early corporations didn’t have a snowball’s chance in an oven to survive more than a few years. In fact, most corporations were created for one specific purpose, such as to build a bridge or a railway, and only existed until the initial investors had earned their expected profit.

What I see happening, and what I hope comes much sooner than later, is corporations working towards a fully automated production line. That is, everything is automated, from acquiring the raw materials to handing the finished product to the customer, with no human hands entering the process in between. My prediction is that this corporation will be labeled as evil, both by the general public and by the competing corporations for a variety of reasons.

The first reason why this will be so ‘evil’ is also the reason why I hope this will happen sooner than later. It will get rid of jobs. Nobody will get paid, except for the big guy at the top making the few decisions left. This will, eventually, get rid of money entirely, because currency has no value if only a small group of people have it… and if an entire production chain is fully automated, and there are no workers to pay, then there are no expenses, and no need to spend money. This means that everything will be completely free, just waiting at the store for a person to ask for it.

There would have to be three entire industries that need to be fully automated before we can start seeing real benefits, though. Energy, manufacturing (metal and plastic), and lubrication all need to be fully automated before anything else can be fully automated. By fully automated, I mean that machines churn out products, and are also maintained by other machines, which are also maintained by similar maintenance machines. Only if something goes dramatically wrong should humans interfere. This process also needs to be self-sustaining. This means recycling and using renewable resources.

(Here’s something to chew on… If cows weren’t considered meat, they would be on an endangered species list or already extinct. Paper and wood consumption actually causes more forests to be planted, because a logger who has run out of trees has lost his job.)

In other words, the corporation of the future is fully automated, environmentally responsible, and makes money obsolete by providing all of its products for free. This isn’t just a wish, it is a certainty, although I don’t know when it will happen.

I’m not saying that people will stop working or learning… Quite the contrary, people will work harder, because they’ll be doing only what they want to, without having to worry about a pay check. Some people will explore the world of manufacturing, drawing up models for the robots to build… designing their homes with every feature customized… making a better mouse trap. Others will explore art, either working with their hands, their keyboards, or with the robots to create things that have far better form than function. People will create, but best of all, people will have the time to be creative.

And, without money, there would be no theft. Yes, there would be property, but why would anyone steal something if they can get it for free? Other crimes would still exist, of course, since we can’t get rid of fear entirely, but at least we’ll have one less group of crimes to deal with. Besides, who wants to live a life that is completely devoid of challenges? If you played a computer game that had only one clearly marked button, and the moment you hit the button, you won, would you have enjoyed the game? If our challenges no longer threaten our lives through slow starvation and exposure to the elements, but instead, they expand our minds and pushed our limits further each time, then I would be truly happy.

It really does seem weird for me to type out such an idealized vision of the future, but this is something which I know is possible. Also, I thoroughly enjoy the irony of corporations, driven entirely by greed, being the fuel to create a greedless society.

Sometimes, Irony is worth it.

Who am I kidding… Irony is always worth it, when it is happening to me.