Interesting Links for 7-11-2011

[andrewducker]

• Does Inequality Make Us Unhappy?
  (tags: inequality psychology happiness )
• Fireworks display sets off 20 minute show in 50 seconds. (Awesome video)
  (tags: video fireworks awesome )
• How technology is changing the job market.
  (tags: technology jobs future Robots economy )

Original post on Dreamwidth - there are

Comments

[bart_calendar]

The fireworks technicians had been reading too many Alan Moore graphic novels.

[steer]

I heard a very passionate guy on the radio the other day (alas forgot the name) explaining very clearly that inequality makes us not merely unhappy but also dead.

It turns out that if you're lower in the pecking order in your job then you die earlier. This occurs whether that job is a nice white collar job which is well paid or hard physical labour which is poorly paid. Once you factor out the other relevant economic and environment factors, workers die earlier than middle management who die earlier than upper management. Clearly it is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven.

[andrewducker]

Doesn't surprise me at all.

[strawberryfrog]

I am wondering if the metaphor of an "Oban fireworks display" will pass into the vernacular. I hope so.

[danieldwilliam]

The article on the impact of technology on the jobs market is fascinating. I’ve been thinking of little else since I read it.

[andrewducker]

Well, the number of hours worked by individuals has slowly dropped for a long period of time. And there are all sorts of backbreaking tasks we no longer have to do. The main thing is to ensure that the advantages of automated labour don't all accrue to the richest.

[danieldwilliam]

That’s definitely the trick.

I think it ties in with the democratisation of large corporations. They have little incentive to act in our interest whilst they are run with the current agency problems that exist.

I think latifunda might be instructive (as a model of how not to do it) in this case. The exclusion of the Roman middle class from the economy and from political power was not a great outcome for them.