Humans are a child species. A dangerous one at that. All this technology is very new to the human condition. Human beings have only been around in their present form for around 200,000 years. Our species has had technology for 3 million years starting with sticks and stone tools. It took humans all the way to 3000 B.C. to figure out how to use metal. After that long slow 2.7 million years of stone tool use, technological progress flowered. In only 5000 years humans went from stones to PET scanners which utilize antimatter. From living in caves and stick huts to skyscrapers and space stations.
This Technological world Human Beings have invented is a very new thing for the human condition. Like giving a child the best toy they ever could have, humans are given technology through their cleverness and have become fascinated with their own inventions. Just like a child too, if they don't have it and another child does they will snatch it from the other child's hands. Humans, the dangerous child that they are, have no restraint. If they don't have what the other does, they are more than willing to kill to get it.
Perhaps one day the human fascination with gadgets will wear off. Humans need to be distracted with some other fascination. Humans need reason to not crave or covet gadgets. That reason might come from the ability to obtain any gadget at will. Because of human nature, abundance would then cause gadgets to become mundane. How does our species get to the point of super abundance?
The combination of total automation and unlimited supply of all resources is the key to super abundance of gadgets. Humans would be required to begin expanding into the cosmos in order to have access to unlimited supplies of raw materials. If humans were to access unlimited supplies through expanding into space, human technological progress would increase. Humans would further automate, which would displace human labor. Eventually automation would become complete. Machines would have the ability to design, manufacture and repair themselves. Machines would be able to construct any device from resources that the machines discovered, extracted and processed without the aid of humans.
When human development of instrumentality had reached such a state of total automation, human beings would then be able to enjoy total liberty, equality and fraternity. No one would have any reason to covet anything anyone else possessed. If any person desired or needed anything, the machines would provide it. All anyone need do is to utter a desire and the machines would instantly respond. If you wanted a cup of tea just say the word and machines would provide it from tea the machines grew and harvested. It doesn't stop there either. If you wanted to have the machines build a house on Mars and take you there, just say the word. No one would have to kill anyone to have stuff if everything was provided by machines. Why kill someone to get a bunch of diamonds and gold when machines would provide it for you. Money would become obsolete, so no need to kill each other over that either. That's where the distraction from fascination with gadgets happens.
The making of any device, gadget or thing freely available through unlimited supply and total automation would cause technology to become completely mundane. Then the childlike species called "human" would lose their fascination with gadgets. The human species would grow up a little. They would turn their attention and fascination towards something else. Perhaps that would be the arts or philosophy. Perhaps the totally free human would turn their attention to leisure activity or sports. The human might even turn their ever burning curiosity towards the stars. If so, the machines would be the enabler, the ally.
This is my Socialist dream. This is how I believe it can become a reality. It will take several human generations to fully realize.
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