Robotics, as one of the aspects of the formation of a non-monetary economy
Economic development throughout human history has made a major contribution to the progress of civilization. The economy continues to play a dominant role in competitive social development, both at the interstate level and within each country. But futurologists added one more to the well-known problem of slowing growth: according to their forecasts, after 15 years, robots can equal and even surpass humans with intelligence. What could be the economy in the near future? What awaits a new community of people and robots: war or peace?
Once the thought of robots firmly entrenched in our lives was breathtaking and promised unthinkable achievements. "Forgotten troubles, running stopped." We dreamed of a brave new world in which robots are faithful servants, and a person enjoys the fruits of his scientific achievements. So, in the 1970-1980s, many hopes were associated with robotics. At that time, the triumph of the machine over man seemed real, even in the production process. Industries prophesied the future on the basis of electronically controlled machines, robot lines, and other wonders of human thought. However, the victory over revolutionary technology was won by a “Chinese with a screwdriver”.
The 1970s were very difficult for world capitalism. Not only oil rose in price, but also many other goods. The capital of North America, Europe and Japan wanted growth in profitability, not tax growth and expansion of the social sphere. And the neoliberal economic model was rescued by free labor in peripheral countries. Capital was able to find markets for cheap and socially unprotected labor, rushed from North to South, and in most industries robots had to be forgotten.
The energy of human muscles turned out to be much cheaper than the power for new machines, the introduction of which took a limited nature. The industry, with the exception of the production of computers, telephones and other electronic devices, entered the era of thirty years of stagnation. Vehicles and industrial enterprises changed little. But now this era is coming to an end.
Before the 2008 crisis, talk of an imminent triumph of robotics was most often pointless. “Serious economists” always besieged dreamers with axioms like the finiteness of oil and the excess of cheap labor. However, in 2008 the situation changed. The neoliberal capitalism model has fallen into a difficult crisis. The abundance on the planet of uneducated disenfranchised and inexpensive workers has ceased to seem a reliable basis for economic growth. It became obvious that a cheap worker no longer provides cheaper goods and at the same time cannot consume like Europeans and Americans. In the economy, it is necessary to maintain demand; a new policy of its regulation and creation is needed. And including for this, labor must remain expensive: workers need to buy manufactured goods for something.
At the same time, one cannot underestimate the fact that the introduction of effective technologies can threaten capital income: the prices of some goods have fallen so much that their production in terms of capital growth becomes unprofitable. Hence the actions of monopolies, slowing down the development of the economy: companies with the help of monopoly power are more and more extorting rents from capital. As a result, excess wealth and growing inequality arise. Income is often received not by those who produce, but by those who own patents. A new class of people receiving technological rents has appeared
However, the question is not only that the classic term “unemployment” will begin to lose its adequacy. The problem of market competition in conditions of mass robotization did not receive serious discussion. According to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman and his colleague Kenneth Rogoff, there will be even fewer jobs than now, everyone will live on credit, and several monopolistic companies with a small number of employees and a large number of robots will rule the world.
P. Krugman "sees signs of a robot revolution and does not expect anything good from her." Cheap Asian labor will be less and less in demand. Profits from the sale of goods will be received by those who own the capital necessary for production. Capital will turn into the only growth factor — unlike human labor, which will depreciate and cease to influence growth, since its share in the economy (the share of wages in the cost of production) will steadily decline (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. The reduction in the share of labor in industrial products
According to P. Krugman, what is less important is what the employee can do. The one who owns the capital benefits. And therefore, the Nobel laureate admits, Karl Marx's theory of the struggle between labor and capital becomes quite real. In fact, the concentration of capital helps strengthen monopolies. Monopolies are investing in new technologies that increase capital. The circle closes.
Thus, the traditional recommendations - retraining personnel, opening new industries where the use of robots is still not very effective, stimulating labor migration within the country and abroad, etc. - in changing conditions that are increasingly different from modern ones, will work worse. Because the competitive, market relations of people will inevitably be replaced by the logic of interacting robots.
The advent of new machines alone will not change society. Robots can provide an abundance of cheaper and better products, and maybe even help orient their production to an individual request.
However, social conflicts are indispensable. Goods need consumers, and in a revolution in robotics and energy, many old professions will be hit hard. One cannot do without solving the issue of stimulating consumers, providing them with work and means of livelihood. The problem will not be supplying consumers with necessary goods, but rather how to provide the mass of products with a sufficient number of consumers.
Therefore, one of the most important problems for the global economy will be employment policy. What awaits workers whose professions will be unnecessary due to the automation of production and services? Some will have to look for places in the social security system, while others will have to study. Over time, it will be difficult to get a job as a janitor, seller, or waiter. The factory worker will need the ability to control the lines of robots, and not compete with them in the speed of operations.
But a lot of jobs will be needed. Therefore, in the new conditions, the state will have to deal with their creation first of all. The driving force of employment can be - at least for a while - the public sector and the social sphere. There are reserves. The school will begin the movement from the factory type of training to individual or group mentoring, which means that the needs for doctors, researchers, teachers and educators will be huge. A lot of jobs will be created in the “person for person” spectrum. And maybe many people who are ruining their time in office routines will go to work in science, which will receive priority in the eyes of society.
“If your work is not related to creative thinking, analytical thinking, and relationships with other people, and you work in the office or in the service sector, you are at risk,” said Professor Ed Hess, noting that, according to his According to data, robots will replace humans at approximately 66 percent of US jobs.
Most likely, a reduction in the work week will be a necessity. Maintaining the economy will require a more developed average worker, as well as more jobs. Enterprises will probably have to hire more workers under the new laws, rather than overloading a small staff. Due to this, the workers themselves will receive time for development, recreation and consumption. And this will not be the first time in history when scientific and technological progress will give rise to a reduction in the working week (although nothing has ever happened without the struggle of the classes).
Perhaps even for the sake of stable employment, the state will have to move from raising the retirement age to lowering it. Although the very idea of retirement for people engaged in creative and interesting work will seem strange.
One of the ways out of the current situation is the model of a non-monetary economy, its main points are as follows:
1. Satisfying the needs of the entire population.
Achievable with an increase in production volumes due to the involvement of the majority of the population and technical equipment in the industrial and agricultural sector, the involvement of science and technology, the introduction of new technologies and the innovation program. All this is possible only after the abolition of the monetary system.
2. Fair distribution of labor products.
Achievable, subject to the abolition of the monetary system, the abolition of capitalist institutions, the introduction of the institution of public property, the introduction of measures for the use of resources and production.
3. Automation of production and agriculture.
Achievable after the abolition of the monetary system, the creation of a long-term program of resuscitation and modernization of strategic manufacturing enterprises, the introduction of new technologies of the cybernetic type, including informatization and dispatching of production modules.
4. Reduced working hours.
Achievable after the abolition of the monetary system, the transfer of the entire population from the trading sector to the manufacturing sector and further after the sequential automation of production and the introduction of innovations.
5. Getting rid of manual labor.
Achievable only after the abolition of the monetary system. To profit, it’s profitable to use cheap labor.
6. The increase in free time of each person.
Achievable after attracting the majority of the population to production, and modernizing production processes.
The basic principles of helping to establish a non-monetary economic model in society can be formulated as follows. The need for goods that are produced in those countries that do not use a non-monetary economic madele can be covered by selling their goods to these countries for money and then purchasing the required goods from them. The quality of work performed per day should be noted, if the work does not meet the "standard" for a certain period of time, then a person should be excluded from the system for a certain time. The quality of work should be determined without human intervention.
In a non-monetary economy, the system of employment, labor and incentives will have a complete database of all workers in the country and will have information on where there is a rise in production and an improvement in product quality. Conscious workers will be promoted to governing bodies, bad workers will be transferred to more primitive places. A bad employee will be required to upgrade their skills and receive training. Society will be interested in ensuring that all people understand both the meaning of their work and the degree of responsibility. At the initial stages of economic development, in special cases, the company will create special gifts for the best workers and deprive the poor worker of some material wealth. However, the main goal of society will still be to free production from the human factor, so that machines do all the work.
Once the thought of robots firmly entrenched in our lives was breathtaking and promised unthinkable achievements. "Forgotten troubles, running stopped." We dreamed of a brave new world in which robots are faithful servants, and a person enjoys the fruits of his scientific achievements. So, in the 1970-1980s, many hopes were associated with robotics. At that time, the triumph of the machine over man seemed real, even in the production process. Industries prophesied the future on the basis of electronically controlled machines, robot lines, and other wonders of human thought. However, the victory over revolutionary technology was won by a “Chinese with a screwdriver”.
The 1970s were very difficult for world capitalism. Not only oil rose in price, but also many other goods. The capital of North America, Europe and Japan wanted growth in profitability, not tax growth and expansion of the social sphere. And the neoliberal economic model was rescued by free labor in peripheral countries. Capital was able to find markets for cheap and socially unprotected labor, rushed from North to South, and in most industries robots had to be forgotten.
The energy of human muscles turned out to be much cheaper than the power for new machines, the introduction of which took a limited nature. The industry, with the exception of the production of computers, telephones and other electronic devices, entered the era of thirty years of stagnation. Vehicles and industrial enterprises changed little. But now this era is coming to an end.
Before the 2008 crisis, talk of an imminent triumph of robotics was most often pointless. “Serious economists” always besieged dreamers with axioms like the finiteness of oil and the excess of cheap labor. However, in 2008 the situation changed. The neoliberal capitalism model has fallen into a difficult crisis. The abundance on the planet of uneducated disenfranchised and inexpensive workers has ceased to seem a reliable basis for economic growth. It became obvious that a cheap worker no longer provides cheaper goods and at the same time cannot consume like Europeans and Americans. In the economy, it is necessary to maintain demand; a new policy of its regulation and creation is needed. And including for this, labor must remain expensive: workers need to buy manufactured goods for something.
At the same time, one cannot underestimate the fact that the introduction of effective technologies can threaten capital income: the prices of some goods have fallen so much that their production in terms of capital growth becomes unprofitable. Hence the actions of monopolies, slowing down the development of the economy: companies with the help of monopoly power are more and more extorting rents from capital. As a result, excess wealth and growing inequality arise. Income is often received not by those who produce, but by those who own patents. A new class of people receiving technological rents has appeared
However, the question is not only that the classic term “unemployment” will begin to lose its adequacy. The problem of market competition in conditions of mass robotization did not receive serious discussion. According to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman and his colleague Kenneth Rogoff, there will be even fewer jobs than now, everyone will live on credit, and several monopolistic companies with a small number of employees and a large number of robots will rule the world.
P. Krugman "sees signs of a robot revolution and does not expect anything good from her." Cheap Asian labor will be less and less in demand. Profits from the sale of goods will be received by those who own the capital necessary for production. Capital will turn into the only growth factor — unlike human labor, which will depreciate and cease to influence growth, since its share in the economy (the share of wages in the cost of production) will steadily decline (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. The reduction in the share of labor in industrial products
According to P. Krugman, what is less important is what the employee can do. The one who owns the capital benefits. And therefore, the Nobel laureate admits, Karl Marx's theory of the struggle between labor and capital becomes quite real. In fact, the concentration of capital helps strengthen monopolies. Monopolies are investing in new technologies that increase capital. The circle closes.
Thus, the traditional recommendations - retraining personnel, opening new industries where the use of robots is still not very effective, stimulating labor migration within the country and abroad, etc. - in changing conditions that are increasingly different from modern ones, will work worse. Because the competitive, market relations of people will inevitably be replaced by the logic of interacting robots.
The advent of new machines alone will not change society. Robots can provide an abundance of cheaper and better products, and maybe even help orient their production to an individual request.
However, social conflicts are indispensable. Goods need consumers, and in a revolution in robotics and energy, many old professions will be hit hard. One cannot do without solving the issue of stimulating consumers, providing them with work and means of livelihood. The problem will not be supplying consumers with necessary goods, but rather how to provide the mass of products with a sufficient number of consumers.
Therefore, one of the most important problems for the global economy will be employment policy. What awaits workers whose professions will be unnecessary due to the automation of production and services? Some will have to look for places in the social security system, while others will have to study. Over time, it will be difficult to get a job as a janitor, seller, or waiter. The factory worker will need the ability to control the lines of robots, and not compete with them in the speed of operations.
But a lot of jobs will be needed. Therefore, in the new conditions, the state will have to deal with their creation first of all. The driving force of employment can be - at least for a while - the public sector and the social sphere. There are reserves. The school will begin the movement from the factory type of training to individual or group mentoring, which means that the needs for doctors, researchers, teachers and educators will be huge. A lot of jobs will be created in the “person for person” spectrum. And maybe many people who are ruining their time in office routines will go to work in science, which will receive priority in the eyes of society.
“If your work is not related to creative thinking, analytical thinking, and relationships with other people, and you work in the office or in the service sector, you are at risk,” said Professor Ed Hess, noting that, according to his According to data, robots will replace humans at approximately 66 percent of US jobs.
Most likely, a reduction in the work week will be a necessity. Maintaining the economy will require a more developed average worker, as well as more jobs. Enterprises will probably have to hire more workers under the new laws, rather than overloading a small staff. Due to this, the workers themselves will receive time for development, recreation and consumption. And this will not be the first time in history when scientific and technological progress will give rise to a reduction in the working week (although nothing has ever happened without the struggle of the classes).
Perhaps even for the sake of stable employment, the state will have to move from raising the retirement age to lowering it. Although the very idea of retirement for people engaged in creative and interesting work will seem strange.
One of the ways out of the current situation is the model of a non-monetary economy, its main points are as follows:
1. Satisfying the needs of the entire population.
Achievable with an increase in production volumes due to the involvement of the majority of the population and technical equipment in the industrial and agricultural sector, the involvement of science and technology, the introduction of new technologies and the innovation program. All this is possible only after the abolition of the monetary system.
2. Fair distribution of labor products.
Achievable, subject to the abolition of the monetary system, the abolition of capitalist institutions, the introduction of the institution of public property, the introduction of measures for the use of resources and production.
3. Automation of production and agriculture.
Achievable after the abolition of the monetary system, the creation of a long-term program of resuscitation and modernization of strategic manufacturing enterprises, the introduction of new technologies of the cybernetic type, including informatization and dispatching of production modules.
4. Reduced working hours.
Achievable after the abolition of the monetary system, the transfer of the entire population from the trading sector to the manufacturing sector and further after the sequential automation of production and the introduction of innovations.
5. Getting rid of manual labor.
Achievable only after the abolition of the monetary system. To profit, it’s profitable to use cheap labor.
6. The increase in free time of each person.
Achievable after attracting the majority of the population to production, and modernizing production processes.
The basic principles of helping to establish a non-monetary economic model in society can be formulated as follows. The need for goods that are produced in those countries that do not use a non-monetary economic madele can be covered by selling their goods to these countries for money and then purchasing the required goods from them. The quality of work performed per day should be noted, if the work does not meet the "standard" for a certain period of time, then a person should be excluded from the system for a certain time. The quality of work should be determined without human intervention.
In a non-monetary economy, the system of employment, labor and incentives will have a complete database of all workers in the country and will have information on where there is a rise in production and an improvement in product quality. Conscious workers will be promoted to governing bodies, bad workers will be transferred to more primitive places. A bad employee will be required to upgrade their skills and receive training. Society will be interested in ensuring that all people understand both the meaning of their work and the degree of responsibility. At the initial stages of economic development, in special cases, the company will create special gifts for the best workers and deprive the poor worker of some material wealth. However, the main goal of society will still be to free production from the human factor, so that machines do all the work.