Freefall

Seems like. Unless he's just doing it cynically, but it seems sincere to me.

Ah yes, the economic argument against slavery◊. And admittedly, the North seemed in part so willing to repeal slavery because their economy was moving towards more of a factory model while the South still ran plantations.

You know, I hate the fact that he’s not wrong with his last statement.

Bargaining vs. Collective Bargaining◊

Sam is suspiciously helpful◊

They learn fast. Not even Sam's best behaviour gets past them.

My impression is that Sam isn't nearly as good at manipulating people as he thinks he is. He's done all right on Jean, basically because it is an isolated place, and the novelty of meeting an alien throws people off. Against two people who are used to dealing with scam artists, he's going to be on his back foot if he is genuinely trying to trick them, versus possibly bringing them to a mutually agreeable decision with the facts. Which, of course, is just going to confuse them, because they are expecting a scam.

Rover17 and Dug have something in common◊.

This is going to come down to the robots wanting management and labor to get along. After all, they're both human. Whatever compromise the robots suggest, both sides will have little choice but to agree to it. I am assuming Sam knows this.

Words are such slippery things◊

Let us discuss... Economics◊

"Unlimited", after all, isn't the same thing as "infinite."

The rise of avarice◊

There are those who claim in total seriousness that mankind's biggest long-term mistake was engaging in agriculture instead of remaining hunter-gatherers.

If that wouldn't have happened, we wouldn't be having this discussion^note not only because there wouldn't be internet, but because philosophy wouldn't exist in the first place, so the question is completely moot.

There are some interesting discussions in how it snowballed into things like private land ownership, and separating a working class from a management class. But yeah, kind of necessary for civilization.

Strangely, the introduction of management did not eliminate avarice...◊

Remember, the guy explaining this story is the one who is trying to get rid of all the humans and hire robots for below their survivable wages. I think we're going to get to the part soon about "everything would be better if management was allowed to make things efficient."

{nods} Although so far, he's being oddly fair that everyone is after the money. I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually points out one of the issues with unions, that a good bit of the increased wages get soaked up via union dues that go to, well, management of the union.

Personally, I'm pro-union, but it's the same way that I think government and organized religion are overall good ideas, but that far too often, what you get is a good idea that then gets a lot of people who are into turning it into profit.

How much inequality is fair?◊

Technically, some dictators don't bother spreading the wealth to their cronies. They're The Caligula, and they don't last long. But he's clearly talking about at least slightly stable systems, so I'm just being a pedant. Don't use a burning house as an example of architecture.

Well it is relevant to keep in mind that he tried to offer them below minimal survival wage. Not very much for "spreading the wealth", he is.

Edited by Adannor on Jul 14th 2023 at 5:17:28 PM

Eyeh, I read that as Do You Want to Haggle?, particularly if this is something that he often does with the union rep, to the point where it's simply standard that the one starts with a lowball figure and the other one starts with one too high, knowing that they will meet a point in the middle that both can accept, even if they're not as happy with it.

Edited by FuzzyBoots on Jul 14th 2023 at 11:39:21 AM

Yeah no. He asked what's their maintenance needs and lowballed under that. Any possible "middle ground" would still be below the bare minimum.

If we're being generous, we could assume that he thought the robot was exaggerating. You know, "I couldn't possibly live without my favorite food, which costs x!" "We can pay you [less than x]." "Well, I guess I can go without it sometimes."

Except robots, especially new robots, don't really lie or understand exaggeration. X is the amount the robot needs to survive; less than that is starvation. Period.