But they can shop online. And do, in increasing levels. In a 3D printed world where your computer knows your dimensions and can modify the item to fit you shopping gets a lot more fun. No more “well it looks nice but it doesn’t fit”, it WILL fit.
This goes way beyond economic philosophies and how you get to work. This is a question of what percentage of people will we even NEED to have work to go to.
If you don’t see what’s going on with 3D printers and automation as changing the very fabric of how we make and distribute good you aren’t up to speed. Forget the government, they’ve never had the ability to render change the way technology does. We are right now in the process of making all driving jobs a thing of the past. We are right now in the process of making most manufacturing jobs a thing of the past. We are right now in the process of making most selling jobs a thing of the past. The government doesn’t get a say in this. Much like they didn’t have a say in the internet for 25 years. The government will turn around 25 years after this revolution and say “woh, something big just happened”.
I’ve been a design engineer since 1972. I helped design computer hard drives in 1977, and then printers, then office computers. In the late 80’s I bought a Timex Sinclair computer, in 1987 I took a CAD class (1 week), in 1988 I built my first computer, in 1992 I bought a domain name and thinking that whoever controlled the Yellow Pages could make a killing, I mapped my entire city of 100,000 people and placed every retailer on that map. People still didn’t know what the internet was and thought I was crazy, this was before Google.
Two years ago I bought a 3D printer, and while it is ok for proving a design, I’m waiting for something better to come along. To get a 3D part you can do it two ways, scan it or draw it. When you draw it, in 3D, you can get a lot more accuracy, then you convert the file to a printable file that is not easily changed, that is what you distribute, you keep the original drawing, no one else needs it. Because you have the original drawing, it is easily improved and redistributed only by you.
I realize that the socialist are pushing a livable wage and a guaranteed income. Jerry Brown has been pushing that since 1995. If you can manufacture something without depending on anyone else then what you earn will depend on how imaginative you are.
Jerry Brown from 1995
http://nation.foxnews.com/jerry-brown/2010/10/14/jerry-brown-flashback-we-need-more-welfare-and-fewer-jobs