timelets

“Yet no nanocomputer or other complex circuit was built for a decade and a half. [32]  We had the devices. What we do not have, still, is simply the infrastructure that macroscopic technology takes for granted: the ability to sort and test parts; to cut and join materials; to create frameworks that can hold devices in designed relationships, and the ability to place parts into such frameworks.”

J Storrs Hall. “Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past.”

“[in Jetsons] no one does any actual work. Jetson arrives at his office, leans back in his chair, and puts his feet up on the desk. Jane presses three buttons to accomplish the housework—and that’s before she gets Rosey. Even the robot sets the table for dinner by pressing a button.
...
the Jetsons’ lives are ridiculously easy, and they are ridiculously rich. Jane talks to her mother on a wall-sized videophone in a day when 20% of American households didn’t have a television and 25% didn’t have telephones.

[in real life] The working man’s family lived in a cramped row house, not a spacious penthouse. His wife didn’t have a housemaid; she spent the whole day cleaning, washing, cooking, and sewing. He himself worked long arduous days and was often forced to take public transportation. Private aircraft were a dream almost as far out of reach as they had been before the brothers Wright.
The subtext of The Jetsons is simply stated: advancing technology would make the future much better than the past—for everyone. We could all be Jet-Setters.”

J Storrs Hall. “Where Is My Flying Car?: A Memoir of Future Past.”

Let's say we do get enormous productivity gains from AI. How do we tax the productive class and redistribute the money(?). Of course, we could imagine that AI improves everybody's productivity, but it would not be uniform; therefore, the redistribution problem would have to be solved anyway. Also, taxing heavily the productive class would create strong disincentives to be productive. Unless, productivity gains are so huge that taxes won't matter.