Alien #1: “I’ve been watching these humans for years, and I still don’t quite understand them.”
Alien #2: “What’s to understand? They are born, procreate, and die. While they live they do the useful and the useless; they exploit where they can or they have others exploit for them; and they all seem to believe that they have ultimate control over everything—except, that is, for those who have been trained to relinquish control to others.”
Alien #1: “I just observed that the Chinese government is going to allow families in some areas to have up to three children. * They went to one-child families about fifty years ago, raised it to two-children families not too long ago, and are now allowing three-kid families. They realized that their workforce is aging, and they need to breed more workers to sustain the aging.”
Alien #2: “All that tech, and they still need to breed workers? Haven’t they heard of Elon Musk? He’s developing a robot that will make physical work ‘a choice.’ ** That’s the direction China should go with its 1.411 billion people.”
Alien #1: “Yes, but that Muskbot isn’t yet a reality, and even when it becomes one, it’s design specifications are rather limited: It can’t lift much; can’t beat a human in a race; and can’t carry more than 45 pounds.”
Alien #2: “Well, that’s certainly enough carrying capacity to replace most Amazon, UPS, or FedEx employees. And surely, it’s enough to do what robots already do on that scale. Big lifters already exist on car assembly lines. The Tesla Bot will be more mobile than those fixed machines. It will use the same computer tech that enables a Tesla car to move from point A to B.”
Alien #1: “So, I’m trying to understand here. The Chinese limited the number of people a family could have without realizing that humans age. Now they need to reproduce themselves to make workers who, as the planet spins, will also age. If they overproduce themselves, will they then need even more Chinese to support a larger aging population a half century from now? And if they go to Muskbots to do the work, what will they have for a population, a bunch of do-nothing late-middle-agers? And I have another question. If they invent diseases that kill off or disable their workers, will they then have to produce even more workers only to find that they age as well?”
Alien #2: “No, they will have a people freed to do whatever they desire. Creative stuff and whatnot. And they’ll get a handle on that disease stuff simply because they have to. At least, I think that is what they’ll do. Why would anyone make something that would threaten its own species? Anyway, with robots, people won’t have to do menial tasks; that will free them to reach their individual potential.”
Alien #1: “Oh, like the Americans? They have recently decided to pay people not to work. Unfortunately, Musk hasn’t given them the robots they need to support their new lifestyle. But maybe in the near future…”
Alien #2: “I haven’t been paying attention. I do remember that female politician, Nancy something, saying about a decade ago that with free health care, people won’t have to work; they’ll be able to stay home and do creative things, paint, I suppose, like that Hunter guy.”
Alien #1: “Yeah. How’s that not working working out for them? A decade or so later do you see increased creativity? Has a population of people who have ‘a choice’ not to work led to utopia?”
Alien #2: “As I said, I haven’t been paying much attention to the Americans. How are they doing with the pay-not-to-work policy? Well, I can’t say, but I have noticed that of recent, they appear to be walking around like robots, rather mechanically, like a Muskbot with only eyes showing in the head. What’s with those masks?”
Alien #1: “Disease prevention, I think. That’s where those Muskbots you mention will be superior. No colds, no flu, no SARS, no COVID-19, or 26, or 105. No masks, but, then, no noses or mouths. Hey, maybe each American human is like a Muskbot, muzzled, no need for a mouth nowadays. Soon as one opens a mouth to be creative, the authorities shut it with laws and restrictions, or their contemporaries ostracize them. It’s a bit like the Chinese restricting families from having more than one child. What humans do often leads to the opposite of what they intend. That’s why when we started to observe these beings long ago institute plans to make a better world, I asked, ‘What could go wrong?’ They always seem to make sense at the time, at least they seem to make sense to those who institute the plans.”
Alien #2: “Strange species. Maybe we should spend our time observing another planet.”
*Phys.org. 21 Aug 2021. China allows couples third child amid demographic crisis. Online at https://phys.org/news/2021-08-china-couples-child-demographic-crisis.html. Accessed August 21, 2021.
**Ryan, Jackson. 20 Aug 2021. Elon Musk unveils Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot that uses vehicle AI. Cnet. Online at https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-unveils-tesla-bot-a-humanoid-robot-utilizing-vehicle-ai/ Accessed August 21, 2021.
Alien #2: “What’s to understand? They are born, procreate, and die. While they live they do the useful and the useless; they exploit where they can or they have others exploit for them; and they all seem to believe that they have ultimate control over everything—except, that is, for those who have been trained to relinquish control to others.”
Alien #1: “I just observed that the Chinese government is going to allow families in some areas to have up to three children. * They went to one-child families about fifty years ago, raised it to two-children families not too long ago, and are now allowing three-kid families. They realized that their workforce is aging, and they need to breed more workers to sustain the aging.”
Alien #2: “All that tech, and they still need to breed workers? Haven’t they heard of Elon Musk? He’s developing a robot that will make physical work ‘a choice.’ ** That’s the direction China should go with its 1.411 billion people.”
Alien #1: “Yes, but that Muskbot isn’t yet a reality, and even when it becomes one, it’s design specifications are rather limited: It can’t lift much; can’t beat a human in a race; and can’t carry more than 45 pounds.”
Alien #2: “Well, that’s certainly enough carrying capacity to replace most Amazon, UPS, or FedEx employees. And surely, it’s enough to do what robots already do on that scale. Big lifters already exist on car assembly lines. The Tesla Bot will be more mobile than those fixed machines. It will use the same computer tech that enables a Tesla car to move from point A to B.”
Alien #1: “So, I’m trying to understand here. The Chinese limited the number of people a family could have without realizing that humans age. Now they need to reproduce themselves to make workers who, as the planet spins, will also age. If they overproduce themselves, will they then need even more Chinese to support a larger aging population a half century from now? And if they go to Muskbots to do the work, what will they have for a population, a bunch of do-nothing late-middle-agers? And I have another question. If they invent diseases that kill off or disable their workers, will they then have to produce even more workers only to find that they age as well?”
Alien #2: “No, they will have a people freed to do whatever they desire. Creative stuff and whatnot. And they’ll get a handle on that disease stuff simply because they have to. At least, I think that is what they’ll do. Why would anyone make something that would threaten its own species? Anyway, with robots, people won’t have to do menial tasks; that will free them to reach their individual potential.”
Alien #1: “Oh, like the Americans? They have recently decided to pay people not to work. Unfortunately, Musk hasn’t given them the robots they need to support their new lifestyle. But maybe in the near future…”
Alien #2: “I haven’t been paying attention. I do remember that female politician, Nancy something, saying about a decade ago that with free health care, people won’t have to work; they’ll be able to stay home and do creative things, paint, I suppose, like that Hunter guy.”
Alien #1: “Yeah. How’s that not working working out for them? A decade or so later do you see increased creativity? Has a population of people who have ‘a choice’ not to work led to utopia?”
Alien #2: “As I said, I haven’t been paying much attention to the Americans. How are they doing with the pay-not-to-work policy? Well, I can’t say, but I have noticed that of recent, they appear to be walking around like robots, rather mechanically, like a Muskbot with only eyes showing in the head. What’s with those masks?”
Alien #1: “Disease prevention, I think. That’s where those Muskbots you mention will be superior. No colds, no flu, no SARS, no COVID-19, or 26, or 105. No masks, but, then, no noses or mouths. Hey, maybe each American human is like a Muskbot, muzzled, no need for a mouth nowadays. Soon as one opens a mouth to be creative, the authorities shut it with laws and restrictions, or their contemporaries ostracize them. It’s a bit like the Chinese restricting families from having more than one child. What humans do often leads to the opposite of what they intend. That’s why when we started to observe these beings long ago institute plans to make a better world, I asked, ‘What could go wrong?’ They always seem to make sense at the time, at least they seem to make sense to those who institute the plans.”
Alien #2: “Strange species. Maybe we should spend our time observing another planet.”
*Phys.org. 21 Aug 2021. China allows couples third child amid demographic crisis. Online at https://phys.org/news/2021-08-china-couples-child-demographic-crisis.html. Accessed August 21, 2021.
**Ryan, Jackson. 20 Aug 2021. Elon Musk unveils Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot that uses vehicle AI. Cnet. Online at https://www.cnet.com/news/elon-musk-unveils-tesla-bot-a-humanoid-robot-utilizing-vehicle-ai/ Accessed August 21, 2021.
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