"Extra People": Is Santa Monica a model for a new society? - ForumDaily
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“Extra People”: Is Santa Monica a Model for a New Society?

Photo: Tatiana Vorozhko (Voice of America)

Never before have I seen so many homeless people, and so different, as in Santa Monica, a suburb of Los Angeles. A handsome middle-aged man asks for money at a crossroads. A young woman, seemingly an ordinary student, sleeping on a bench in the park. Next to her, an elderly woman laid out her possessions: a blanket, a picture and candles. A couple, 40 years, holding hands, basking in the sun along the boardwalk on the Venetian beach. The young man, all in black, collects plastic bottles on the beach, trying to hold them in his hands, because there is no place to put them. A woman, years old 45, is pushing in front of her a pram from a supermarket with all her belongings. Slim and quite attractive, she goes the way women go who know that they are paying attention.

Photo: Tatiana Vorozhko (Voice of America)

Someone, but not all, are asking for money. Some sell something, like colored stones. Alone and in groups, they are everywhere. In addition, the majority looks much healthier - physically and mentally - than the typical homeless people I saw in Ukraine and in Washington. Some radical downshifters. Even the smell of a dirty body is not, although perhaps because of the persistent smell of marijuana, to which we have become accustomed to a week in California.

The three lower steps of the pyramid of Maslow, and all on the beach in Santa Monica

What's happening? On the one hand, Santa Monica is the most expensive area to live in the United States. Well, just the number one countrywide rental prices. On the other - this is the perfect place to win.

Heat. Ocean. Public restrooms with fountains. Shower on the beach. Free exercise equipment and entertainment. Shop Tourists and rich locals. In case of rain - a tunnel in the park of Tongva. The doctor’s office, which will give a prescription for medical marijuana right on the beach. I was also surprised by the powerful presence of the police, who did not touch anyone, but maintained order.

Photo: Tatiana Vorozhko (Voice of America)

In addition, community organizations and local authorities provide homeless people with support, including medical and legal services, assistance in overcoming drug addiction, temporary housing, counseling.

In short, the three lower steps of Maslow's pyramid — basic physical needs, safety, and social connections — can be met here simply by hitting the beach.

Is humankind divided into two races: super-people and "unnecessary"?

Shortly before my trip to California, I read a new book by the Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari “Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow ", which at the time of this writing, was held at 15 in sales in Amazon.

The main message is this: scientific and technological progress has put humanity on the threshold of a new socio-economic revolution, with which a completely new layer of people is emerging - “unnecessary”.

Photo: Tatiana Vorozhko (Voice of America)

The thought crept into my head that this life of homeless people on the beach in Santa Monica could become a prototype of the life of those “unnecessary” ones. Not the fact that they will not have a roof over their heads - just this problem can be cheaply and effectively solved. The essence is in the existence of a layer of people provided with minimal resources, who spend time in some kind of kindergarten for adults, and the only thing that society demands from them is not to interfere.

Today there are not so many of them, but according to Harari, the number of people who are simply not able to find work will grow every year. (unemployables). They will not have enough skills and knowledge to do the work that is needed. And the fact that they can do robots and artificial intelligence. First of all, physical work is massively disappearing - robots squeeze workers out of factories.

The introduction of self-driving cars that will be connected to a single center is expected: this will drastically reduce the death rate from traffic accidents and make hundreds of millions of drivers unnecessary.

On the way - the disappearance of entire branches of mental labor. Therapists, whose task is to diagnose according to symptoms and propose a treatment regimen, can replace the robot Watson, which is being developed in the company IBM This robot, unlike a living therapist, can devote a huge amount of time to the patient, have complete information about the medical history, genes and constantly update its program with the latest medical research.

The technology of scanning brain activity and establishing lies in the words of people will reduce the number of lawyers and police officers, e-government - bureaucrats, the development of artificial intelligence - teachers and many others. And this applies to almost all professions, with very few exceptions. Here are archaeologists - one of those professions that the robot will not replace. It makes no sense here - you won’t earn money.

Photo: Tatiana Vorozhko (Voice of America)

Despite the relatively flourishing appearance of the homeless in Santa Monica, it occurred to me that many would not want to participate in this extreme competition with robots and artificial intelligence. And the best that they can offer to humanity is to go the distance, without starting to prove their worth as workers.

There are two arguments against this scenario. First, the we are far from this, there are no such technologies. However, a certain technical problem, which, for example, separates the robot Watson from the living doctor Holmes, must be solved only once, Harari writes. Even if the creation of the first therapist takes 10 years and $ 100 million, then its copies can be created in immense quantities.

The second argument: this has happened before - former peasants found work in factories, former workers in the service sector. But, the historian says, there is physical and mental work, and robots and artificial intelligence force us out of both. What else is left? Of course, says Harari, there will be new professions, for example, the creator of virtual worlds, but you can’t teach a former 50-year-old taxi driver to program virtual reality.

The scientist predicts that in each industry will remain a small number of super-workers, and in the army - special forces and technical specialists. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers today are being squeezed by drones and other advanced weapons.

Since these people will not be needed from an economic and military point of view, they will also lose political power. If the factory workers can now organize themselves into a union and go on strike, what can homeless people do on the beach in Santa Monica?

All political power, Harari writes, will be concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people who own the means of production and the most powerful platforms, like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Ilon Musk (Tesla), Bill Gates (Microsoft).

At the same time, the development of biology opens up incredible opportunities for people with a condition. Thanks to new technologies in the field of health and a better understanding of the brain can significantly improve a person’s abilities and prolong life. It will be possible to make the so-called "designer baby" - choose from the genes of mom and dad the best. Micro-sensors and robots in the human body will immediately diagnose and treat the problems that have just appeared. Cranial helmets that affect brain function will make it possible to concentrate on the task in an incredible way.

At the same time, Harari writes, under the influence of technological changes, the evolution of other people can go in the opposite direction. Already today, scientists say, even the presence of a smartphone nearby suppresses our intellectual abilities.

"Unnecessary people" - the engine of history?

Harari warns that as a result, humanity can be divided into two subspecies, which will differ among themselves more than Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. The first are some pagan gods, owners of artificial intelligence and super-specialists, the second is all others. And the rest can be whole countries and continents.

Photo: Tatiana Vorozhko (Voice of America)

In the transition from the agrarian to the industrial society, the new class, the proletariat, was at the center of the main political events of the twentieth century. Today, a new class of “unnecessary”, which only appears, Harari writes, is a participant and the cause of the main political processes. Perhaps it is they who are sent to fight from Russia to the Donbass and Syria, are recruited all over the world to ISIS. They are sent as refugees to Europe (not all are fleeing from the war), live on state social security in Germany and Sweden, sunbathe on the beach in Santa Monica.

Harari emphasizes that he does not deal with predictions. He only imposes today's trends on the laws of the history of mankind and looks where this dynamic will lead. And most importantly, it determines what problems may arise if current processes are taken to chance. And although most of his predictions relate to 20-30 years from now and many of them can and should be argued, in California, the main source of these trends, the first forerunners are noticeable today. And I, frankly, did not like them.

The original column is published on the website of the Ukrainian service.VOA".

Text translation prepared editionNew time".

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