Mutually Assured Production for Universal Well Being: A Brief Introductory Discussion

  Economic conditions in the United States and elsewhere must change as mounting   evidence suggests economic downturn. Lives that rely on economic activity are   at best uncertain for those economies that sustain themselves with the bread   and butter of service and information economies. In response to such   foreseeable problems, a Mutual form of Assured Production or MAP (as opposed   to MAD) is proposed to provide a more equalized and sustainable economic   methodology with an underlying ideology based on a concept of universal   harmony favorable to life. We begin with a Basic Income (BI) as a short-term   solution, followed by an implementation of Personal Productive Nanosystems   (PPN) maintained by an Open Personal Productive Nanosystem Network (OPPNN).   With programs like this in place, the need for coercive activity from both the   top (e.g. state and corporate) and the bottom (e.g. unionism and   anarcho-syndicalism), proffered incessantly throughout history, will greatly   diminish and become largely unnecessary in the   future.
 
  With the adoption of foreseeable self-sustainable productive systems, life   could be more liberating than imaginable. More personally satisfying   relationships could have time and an environment to develop as personal   interest takes the place of intellectual and material demands, relied upon   from one another for so long. Before describing MAP, BI, PPN, and OPPNN, let’s   take a look at why such a variety of acronymic proposals are   discussed.
 
  As long as people in parts of the world are starving, there’s an economic   problem afoot. Until believed by enough that starvation can end and that life   can continue and multiply indefinitely, with concerted diligence, the capacity   to end misery altogether is just but a few steps away. Even so-called   post-industrial societies like the United States have plummeted into debt   since the early ‘90s with no end in sight, largely due to stagnate wages   overall, which began around the same period; and from the looks of college   graduate wages, labor markets as a whole are approaching downturn. For those   who comprehend (if at all possible) and accept the Technological Singularity   thesis understands that it is only a matter of time before labor vanishes   altogether. More than the pulse of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will need to   determine overall well being for a population in which a country’s GDP is   quantified. With the rise of debt, so too have debt bubbles grown, the largest   of which are aburst, unable to remain due to rampant defaults from those who   could not afford a loan to begin with. As current trends suggest, wages   overall are expected to decrease, and as for U.S. GDP, unless exports or war   profiteering increases (both false signs of prosperity for the many), will   follow incomes into a downward spiral. Once the rich are greatly devastated or   the poor become ever more rampant—only at that time, it seems—will the demand   for reformulation of economic policy toward greater prosperity and well being   come to fruition. Let us hope the bumpy ride ahead finds its way quickly to   smoother ground for which this writing intends to bring into   view.
 
  In the days of old, feudalism was the norm. Hierarchy was rigid, livelihoods   were at the mercy of everyone else, and resources such as food were highly   scarce within an early pre-industrial agrarian framework. A few years with   little rainfall would ensure famine and starvation, traditionally followed by   massively fatal diseases to thin the heard, only to continue the same rigid   cycle over again. Right was right and wrong was wrong, ignorance or refusal to   abide by norms were given harsh ramifications at once, and if persistently   refused, measures to end the life of one not in alignment with the rules,   swiftly done away with. For the avidly social, the ability to communicate in   these times often meant the difference between life and   death.
 
  Technological development through human communicative exchange has ever so   gradually loosened greatly the chains of material interdependence and social   rigidity that once existed. Societies have gradually stumbled, war after war;   struggle after bloody struggle, into once unforeseen abundance in many   areas.
 
  Abundance can be described as a synthesis of two worlds. In one world, a   single source remains centralized and constant, without depletion—while in   another world—the source is accessible from any location, as a technological   singularity (rather than the Singularity) of sorts. Abundance is a resource   freely available ad infinitum for anyone who may have an interest in its   acquisition, like a cake that never runs out of slices. This poses some   problems for contemporary economists because of a divide by zero dilemma, and   more importantly, if abundant items were introduced into a marketplace, it   would end the market as soon as it entered, given the item is authentically   abundant.

  The written word, personal and portable computing and communications, and the   Internet are all examples of where technologies like productive systems have   developed, as various computer technologies after billions of dollars of   investment now cost very little, with limited human effort and minimal   investment. Just like the printing press that liberated the written word, the   telephone that expanded the voice of verbal communication—and more   recently—the rise of the World Wide Web, fusions such as these have unified   communications while simultaneously decentralizing its use, which has helped   foster the expansion of once costly information into nearly free resources.   This of course is only one step toward many others, and it’s likely the first   attempt will stumble and fall, as new beginnings usually do. Eventually it   will walk and then advance toward the speed of light, and quite possibly,   beyond. There are many ways toward prosperity, particularly when it’s so   generally defined, as it must be. It is only a matter of making the right   choices that advance it, whether sooner or later, and its forms will be   many.
 
  Merchants, once a minority class, evolved from the lowly peddler in the market   square of small towns, then later, to inventor-entrepreneur turned robber   baron in cities and nations. The majority of early 21st century economic   activity is mostly dealt by an interwoven elite global corporate power, one   fueled by the dominion of scarcity and shielded by corporate brands fashioned   by the best of aesthetically attuned design firms, all of which represent the   face of a robber baron of another   sort.
 
  Inflation happens in two ways: with either too much or too little. Deflation   is equally troubling if sales are not made above manufacture costs. To keep   inflation and economic equilibrium in check, government and private firms must   work in tandem. Because free corporations are designed to hoard with the help   of intellectual property rights, retentive profit capacities must persist to   remain in the game. Minimal government regulation from this sphere is   preferred. This means that if corporate preference is met, government policy   is sacrificed for its proliferation. As company monopolies grow larger and   poor minority individuals grow poorer, it is only a matter of time before such   unbridled capitalism stagnates economic inputs and outputs, as the wizardry of   cybernetic analysis demonstrates: growth will hinder, inflate prices, and   collapse markets in short order. To a certain degree this is already   happening, the affect of which already described. The United States provides   an ideal model for this sort of behavior, however ethically unsound it may   seem.
 
  Drug and insurance companies provide for healthcare knowing full well what   they are designed to do: grow financially rather than provide sufficient care.   This is because, well, insufficient care is profitable. Cures would mean   market collapse for the superpowers of pharmaceutical and insurance   conglomerates and for the entire medical industry. Shouldn’t a doctor   represent your health rather than a drug or insurance company? Fortunately, we   have the capacity to help ourselves to cures rather than treatments, by   adopting the philosophy of abundance rather than that of scarcity. A good   start would be to establish universal healthcare in the United States like   other wealthy nations. The open source software community is a gleaming gem   amidst a sea of dull and miserable greed, which has demonstrated exceedingly   that better tools are designed if they are freely given away for further   refinement. It is up to us to set greed aside and understand that giving   ensures more giving in the long run. Open source technology does not have to   remain in the software domain, and as many in the Trans(Post)humanist and   Singularity communities foresee and discuss, it will eventually spread to them   all.
 
  In the abstract Robots: Re-Evolving Mind or Mass Utility Robots this Decade,   Full Automation this Century, as such a title implies, Hans Moravec, in the   last sentence clearly states, “By mid-century no human task, physical or   intellectual, should be beyond effective automation.” This conclusion was   drawn with the evolution of robotics firmly in mind. Eventually, as foresight   becomes onsight, assemblers at the molecular scale will fashion atoms together   bit by bit into a finished formation using a method of manufacture termed   Productive Nanosystems. Eric Drexler calls it, “programming atoms like bits.”   In theory, virtually anything physically conceived could be constructed using   simple raw materials found in every day surroundings. The Center for   Responsible Nanotechnology has given the timeframe to be somewhere between   2010-25.[1]   The Technology Roadmap for Productive Nanosystems   [2]   is an insightful exploration and plotting of PN’s   trajectory.
 
  Before anything is constructed   with human effort, the concept of harm now takes precedence; besides, this   anything could be an explosive   device that wipes the earth off the solar systemic map! Because this conceived   dilemma is already heavily discussed, the point here is one briefly made to   recognize that as the capacity to create becomes of ease, so too—and often   times more easily—destruction can arise. If Ben Goertzel’s projections are   accurate, an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) will help manage systems   (otherwise known as day-to-day affairs) within 5-9 years time   [3][4]   in a manner that will understand harm to a greater extent than the human mind.   The essay, Stages of Ethical Development in Artificial General Intelligence   [5]   by Bugaj and Goertzel, presents a feasible way AGI could foreseeably interact   harmoniously with others. It cannot be understated. The integrative   culmination of AGI and Productive Nanosystems are essential for the   continuation of life on earth and   elsewhere.
 
  So, how does one bridge the gap between manufactured goods often made abroad   in various global regions to a portable system like that of a Personal   Productive Nanosystem? And what might this device look like? The iPod seems a   likely candidate, although the politics of the One Laptop Per Child   organization best align with the proposals stated here. So instead, let’s   imagine a future XO subnotebook computer, freely distributed to kids and   adults alike. Only, the XO would not only help to educate, it could also feed,   cloth, and house the user in whatever manner preferred. It may be best that   before journeying forth into the likes of futurist prophecy, let’s first   describe the steps in which prophecy can materialize into reality by   describing how manufacturing systems and labor economies might evolve, in a   manner which purposefully avoids   timetables.
 
  It will no longer be competitively advantageous or necessary to purchase   materials or finished goods from abroad. With demand for robotics in Japan,   this helped spur development in a variety of related technologies, and   particularly, helped care for a growing aging population otherwise physically   impossible most of the time. Robots similar to ones that entertained and   delivered medications are now more dynamic and no longer occupy the narrow   assignments of convalescent care or retailing. They are more fluid and less   mechanical in manner. Infused with what was once called AGI, these sometimes   human-like representations can shift into many shapes and manufacture   virtually anything by means of molecular engineering, given it does not bring   others to harm. It understands us better than we   do.
 
  These machines communicate in a way that may seem alien at first. It’s not   that the device talks like a simple mechanism—quite the opposite. Robotics   with this form of sophistication use a type of communication technology called   affective computing, but others won’t know the wiser, it acts like a kind   person. Those who interact with the machine can’t help but treat it as kindly   as it treats others. In fact, aging isn’t so bad because this darned thing   told me some guy—who resembles a wizard in some Tolkien novel—found a cure for   the cell deterioration that causes death. So what the hey-who, I guess it   wouldn’t hurt to live a little longer so I can watch my grandchildren grow   old.
 
  A basic income is distributed equally to individuals so they can purchase   goods that remain scarce or are difficult to duplicate for the time being. You   see, we’ve since understood that machines can be used to end the toil rather   than increase it, which was the case with you folk at the dawn of the century.   Besides, I think those in the past were tricked—thinking they where free. We   now view wage labor as just a different form of slavery, neither of which   would be very tolerable today if we had to revert back to taking orders from   an overworked boss or soon to be ex-wife or worrying over bills. There are no   bosses here, just those who are either interested in having your companionship   or not. I no longer have to work all day to feed my family. This in a sense   created a new series of problems! You see, I wasn’t used to having so much   free time, and I quickly realized that the family I worked so hard to support   wasn’t worth spending time with in the first place. Those where cynical and   rather superficial times… The transition was hard on all of us of course, but   in the end we knew it was best that we went our separate ways and live around   others more compatible and attuned to our unique, natural preferences. I still   love my kids, of course. I see them from time to time. It’s easy to stay in   touch.
 
  I now have a dog I fashioned up with the help of my XO. Okay, so it’s not   really an XO. Shrapney does amazing things! Explosive and metallic sounding   name aside, he’s a real live dog, you know, the organic and biological kind,   my own special breed fit to spec. We get along real nice because he likes what   I like and usually doesn’t like what I don’t. That gets boring after awhile   though, having a dog so similar to yourself. I think I’ll make my next breed   more different than myself next time, but I’m rather attached as it is. I may   not make another doggy. I could use some surprises every once in a while, you   know. Isn’t that what us human folk are designed   for?
 
  I remember reading somewhere that some guy somewhere wrote an essay on how we   might live in the future. Come to find out, it was nothing like he had   planned. The outcome was rather similar to his thinking though. A few of those   futurists people got a few things right. They can certainly have pretty close   to what they anticipated anyhow. Now anyone can do basically as they please,   given it don’t disturb anyone. Those folks who called themselves   transhumanists or cyborgs or whatever had their fill, most of them I never   talked to   anyhow.
 
  Setting an emergent unknown personal narrative aside for a moment, let’s begin   a dialogue that names particular systems this future spokesperson might use in   day-to-day   affairs.
 
  I believe they called it Personal Productive Nanosystems in the beginning. I   remember that only because it sounds like “pen” when abbreviated. Whatever you   need, you search what you might call the nanofactory database to find what you   want. It remembers your preferences, so you can either choose what you made   before or have it snaz things up a bit. Sometimes I do that just to get a   thrill, it never fails to surprise me, as often as I say nothing surprises me   much anymore—which doesn’t surprise me. At any rate, this interface was once   called something silly like Open Productive Nanosystem Network. I know that   because it sounds like “open” when said as an acronym. This concept of   openness is what liberated us from the torment of labor. Like I said, there’s   no need for that anymore. If you feel like thinking up something new, or doing   something, you consult this interface for a bit and there you have it. It   could be a work of something made or remade; anyone who browses the network   can find it. You can also use it as a day planner, either by writing one up   yourself or having it do one for you, or a combination. It’s good at giving   suggestions if you want them. People add things to it all the time and think   of the craziest things. Some people still type; it’s faster that way for some   folks. I prefer to think when I want something. Biofeedback is sophisticated   enough these days to read brain waves and such. Yes, like I said, typing is   faster for some folks. They can type faster than they can think you   know!
 
  So you remember government, right? Those fancy government buildings are all   museums now. Well, before I get into this, saying something like that could be   considered controversial and all. It’s a common perception in your time to   believe that people need other people to enact laws to keep things in line or   help get us the things we can’t get as small fries. There’s not much use for   kingships or fiefdoms or small fridoms here. That may burst your   bubble—perhaps it seems impossible—to know that now anyone can do what they   need to do without writing a congressperson or protesting, or rallying up for   some other form of nonsense. If you have a problem with someone or a group of   someones these days, you stand up on your hindquarters, look ‘em in the eye,   and tell ‘em (whether by v-mail or otherwise)! Things can always be worked   out; there’s always a way to compromise. I guess there always was, it’s just   easier   now.
 
  Its no longer a burden to visit a friend for extended amounts of time, because   going to another’s house is a lot like going to your own. Anything you might   like can appear in alignment with you and your friend’s preferences if the   room is one you both occupy. This includes adjustment of lighting, décor, and   the like in a way that’s pleasing to both peeps, given we choose to have any   of that stuff cluttering the room in the first place. I like to keep things   simple,   personally.
 
  A word on real estate—didn’t some guy say, “property is theft?” Well, property   isn’t so much theft, because we haven’t much use for either of the two. It’s   not that privacy is no longer necessary, it’s still just as important as it   was then. Everyone needs a little alone time to get things collected. There’s   always a place for that. If it’s family life you’re hungry for, there’s a   place for that too. Usually people like a little of both or somewhere in   between. Room or rooms can always be made to taste for any occasion that may   arise.
 
  Transportation isn’t really a problem. Batteries have very high capacities and   can nearly launch something into space. I guess if the battery where big   enough, it could! Since I’ve thought of it, I’m sure somebody’s already done   that. Wireless energy really took off too, its rather novel at the time of   this publication, but we’ve found it to be useful in keeping things going for   those things that need electricity from an outside source. Most items today   are able to extract energy from the environment though. I guess you could say   wireless transference of energy is somewhat old hat, unless you where to need   a lot of it at one time for some silly   reason.
 
  It’s difficult to describe the future outside narrative without knowing   something will, no doubt, be overlooked later as new insights and experiences   come and as innovation continues. Detail is a task that easily spans infinity.   Things are often described in stark detail in so-called non-fiction or written   about in sci-fi, most of which relies on severe unforeseen problems to   overcome—technology often posed as a problem than a solution. Both methods of   storytelling are bound to sound dated for the reader decades from now, serving   as historical text. Of course writing concisely is necessary for obvious   reasons in the technical areas touched upon earlier. Not detailing the   fineries of the specific would make such a life previously illustrated   impossible, however crudely articulated by our future guest narrator, one who   happened to invade this once formal   essay.
 
  Further descriptions of Productive Nanosystems and Artificial General   Intelligence and other essential technologies will be left to those more   interested in understanding the finer and more scrupulous of details until   AGIs are capable of doing more than that of the human, including the more   intellectually avid ones. Rather than a technical treatise, this bit of garb   is intended to gently splash a few drops of radiance upon foreseeable problems   faced in the early 21st century, with a brief and somewhat playful   illustration of a few solutions brought forth by our anonymous spokesperson   from the future. This leaves the rest up for more detailed and grounded   discussion for another time on another   page.
 
  Rigidly critical thought and overtly extensive argumentation aside, may the   future be one in which is most   preferred.
 
  References
 
  1.   Center for Responsible Nanotechnology: Estimating a Timeline for Molecular   Manufacturing
  2.   Productive Nanosystems: A Technology   Roadmap
  3.   The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence: Interviews: Ben   Goertzel
  4.   The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence: Singularity Summit   2007: Nine Years to a Positive Singularity – If We Really, Really   Try
  5.   Goertzel, B. Bugaj, S. Stages of Ethical Development in Artificial General   Intelligence Systems