Abstract:
Advances in technology are quickly leading to levels of productivity that will qualitatively change the
structure of society. In this talk I will discuss various technology trends, their potential impact on
employment, and possible approaches to living in a society where a significant proportion of the population
will be unemployable (in its traditional sense) and yet able to pursue lives with dignity.
Past technology revolutions (TRs) have changed the nature of human intercourse, created new economic
systems, been disruptive, created new kinds of jobs, and yet over time, yielded a substantial improvement in
economic welfare for every segment of society. In this talk I will describe why today's TR (which we refer
to as TR3) is fundamentally different. I will discuss a new model of the labor market which shows how
technology can continue to improve without significantly changing the labor market until a critical point is
reached, at which time unemployment rates will climb swiftly. The resulting society will have fewer and
fewer people who need (or are even allowed) to work, resulting in more "free time" then we have ever
experienced before. This will lead to two existential problems for a large swath of humanity: an economic
problem---how to acquire the physical necessities for life---and a psychological problem---how to find
meaning and dignity in life apart from one's vocation.
The talk will conclude by describing a new monetary system based on reputation which simultaneously
addresses the two existential questions created for those disenfranchised from the labor market by
TR3. First, it could redistribute income/wealth in a bottom-up manner. Second, it could enable the creation
of activities, engagement, motivation, and satisfaction for those individuals who will no longer be employed
in a ``normal'' job.
Bio:
Seth Copen Goldstein is an Associate Professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. He
received his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley in 1997. In 1994 he
completed his M.S. in Computer Science at the same institution. His undergraduate work was undertaken at
Princeton University in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Before attending
UC Berkeley, Seth was CEO and founder of Complete Computer Corporation which developed and
marketed object-oriented programming tools.
Seth's main research agenda focuses broadly on ensembles: large collections of interacting agents. In the
area of reconfigurable computing he investigated how to compile high-level programming languages directly
into configurations which could harness the large ensemble of gates for computing. He then began
investigating how ensembles of molecules could be used to create circuits; investigating how to design,
manufacture, and use molecular-scale devices for computing. It included research in the areas of circuits,
architectures, languages, and compilers. Before starting, Flashgroup, his main research project was
investigating Claytronics, a form of programmable matter. Programmable matter is an ensemble of
computing elements which can be programmed to work together to produce changes in the physical
properties of the ensemble.
Since returning from his start-up, he has moved his focus to ensembles of people and is investigating the
interaction of technology, work, and money. In particular he is interested in understanding, quantitatively,
the impact of technological progress on the labor market and innovation. He is developing alternative
monetary systems that can support innovation and creativity in a post-labor economy.
Professor Goldstein's interests include object-oriented programming, networking, parallel computing,
compilers, reconfigurable computing, molecular electronics, programmable matter, robotics, novel
architectures, web based systems for collaboration, distributed economics, cryptocurrencies, and agent-based
simulation.