“Millions of people may lose their jobs to AI and robotics. We are working to find a solution before this catastrophe hits.”

That’s how Mike DiVerde introduces the OmniFuturists group.

The OmniFuturists group is a response to the following paragraph in the book The Economic Singularity by Calum Chace:

We cannot be certain, but it looks likely that improvements in machine intelligence over the next few decades are going to make it impossible for most humans to earn a living. We would be wise to devote some resource to working out how to deal with this development in case it does happen – indeed we would be foolish not to.

Humanity Unshackled co-hosts Rusty Burridge and David Wood recently caught up with Mike to hear how the group was formed, its activities so far, and its plans for the future.

Here’s a selection of the topics covered:

  • Mike’s 13 patents worldwide in spacecraft dispensers
  • The meaning of the “omni” part of the “OmniFuturists” name
  • The potential of an “Economic Singularity” ahead of the “Technological Singularity”: cognitive automation that can do just about any white collar, pink collar, and blue collar job at less cost than employing humans
  • Scenarios for the transition period when more and more people are displaced from the workforce
  • The fiduciary duty – backed up by courts when investors sue – of executive management in companies to maximise returns to shareholders
  • Cultural attitudes that praise business people who are seen to be financially successful, and denigrate people who are unable to feed themselves and their families
  • A comparison with the extensive difficulties experienced when people lost their jobs during the Great Depression
  • The example of modern-day farm workers in the USA
  • How OmniFuturists drew its initial members from “the large tent” of the U.S. Transhumanist Party
  • Possible solutions to explore further: cooperatives, social enterprises, Georgism, holacracy, universal basic means of production (UBMoP), maker spaces
  • The positive role of “enthusiastic amateurs” supported by “a peppering of professionals”
  • At present OmniFuturists represents a rich diversity of viewpoints but only a limited demographic; the aim is greater demographic diversity in 2023
  • A focus on “calm, data-driven, logical discussions”
  • The intention of using a Delphi review method, once the existing OmniFuturists materials have advanced further
  • The possibility that, sooner than generally forecast, more and more employees will find out, to their surprise, that they are no longer one of the “winners” in the economic transformation, but are now being left behind as cognitive automation accelerates
  • Mike’s own favoured approach: distributism
  • Social Purpose Corporations and parallel economics
  • Farmers’ co-ops could be created even in cities, using vertical farming

To listen to this episode, click on the audio player at the top of this page.

Alternatively, listen to this episode on Soundcloud, or visit the corresponding Radio Hydrogen page.

To dig more deeply into some of the ideas in this episode:

Michael DiVerde is an aerospace structural design engineer who has worked at Boeing, SpaceX, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems, and Northrop Grumman. During nearly forty years, he has worked on nine new aerospace vehicles: two rockets, two spacecraft, two navy jets, two passenger jets, and one freighter.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

For a complete listing of Humanity Unshackled episodes, see the Future Surge Media page.

Credits:

Technology, Legals, and Australian FM Radio Network Liaison: Chris John Doe.

Music: “Far Away 6,” written and performed by Sean Anthony Brennan

Radio Hydrogen Artwork: Eleanor O’Donnell

Special thanks to Bob Evans of the 3E show on Tribe FM 91.1 Willunga, and to all at Tribe FM, past present and future.

Published on 13th March 2023.

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