What a wonderful feeling when you know that tomorrow is your day off and you don’t have
to go anywhere.
But stop and think -- what if all the people on the planet quit working and everyone took
a day off at the same time?
Sounds cool, but it sure wouldn't lead to anything good.
Okay so you wake up in the morning after a good night’s sleep.
The alarm didn't go off because you don’t have to go anywhere.
You're in a good mood and ready to take a shower, so you turn the handle and… dirty
water comes flowing out.
The water stops with a 'clunk', and then bursts out with such intense pressure that your faucet
breaks.
Somehow you manage to stop a small flood.
You go to the kitchen to make tea, but you can't heat the water in the kettle because
the gas and electricity are disconnected.
You can't even warm up food to make breakfast.
Cereal is out of the question too: the milk went bad, along with everything else in the
fridge.
The fact is that there's no one to regulate the filtration and pressure of the water.
Unclean water flows unevenly through city pipes, which means that in some houses it
destroys the plumbing, while in others, there's no water at all.
Also, the entire sewage system is backed up and spills out of the manholes, but no one
cares about it because no services are working.
The same goes for electricity.
Short circuits and power outages are widespread throughout the city.
This prompts everyone to conserve the batteries on their gadgets, because charging is almost
impossible.
So, you take out the garbage and throw it in a huge heap.
You notice that all the trash cans are full.
And there are more and more such piles every minute throughout the city.
Without anyone working in waste management, it piles up quickly.
One person produces 3 pounds of garbage a day; so you could estimate that about 7 million
tons of trash will accumulate on the street.
Without many other options, you decide to spend some time with friends, but your texts
won't go through because the internet and all the cell towers are down, basically leaving
all of humanity without communication.
With no internet, you’re bored.
But it's decent outside, so you decide to have a picnic.
The roads are free, since no one's on their way to work, but you need to be careful when
driving – the traffic lights don't work either.
You stop by the store to buy everything you need for your picnic, but today, all the supermarkets
are closed.
The production of everything has come to a stand-still all over the world.
Hospitals, fire departments, and police forces aren't working.People will have to stay overnight
at train stations and airports; they won't be able to get home.
Fortunately, you haven't gone anywhere and are in your hometown.
By the evening, people have gathered outside, but they have no idea what to do: all the
entertainment venues are closed.
This has its pluses: you'll save some money.
But speaking of that, the whole world’s money circulation has stopped for the day.
The planet’s economy is frozen, and all financial institutions have lost a day of
revenue.
But don’t worry.
There won’t be an economic collapse.
The stock market won't go down, it’s just paralyzed because of the lack of communication
and activity.
No one’s selling or buying shares and transferring currencies.
At least not today.
City lights, neon signs, shop windows are off.
All the night clubs are closed.
By this time, most mobile gadgets are completely out of juice , so more and more people are
taking to the streets.
And what do most people like to do in the evening on a day off?
Have fun!
The whole city starts a party outside!
Roads are lit with bonfires and car's headlights.
Instead of speakers booming, people use guitars, pianos, drum sets and their own voices.
Yes, parties in the 19th century looked something like this.
But sooner or later, any fun ends.
The next day, the whole planet suffers from the consequences of the previous 24 hours:
long lines in supermarkets, crowds of people in the subway, crowded hospitals, traffic
jams on the roads.
Many companies and banks have lost billions of dollars and are trying to cope with the
economic crisis onset.
But the worst part is that your internet service providers still aren't working, because the
network operators are trying to restore the web.
Throughout the next week, all city workers will put in seven days of work to make up
for the consequences of everyone's day off.
This happens to all of us after a good rest: a tiring resumption of the working rhythm;
but in our case, it happens on a planetary scale.
Fortunately, it'd be nearly impossible for all people to stop working at once.
After all, each of us is driven by the instinct of self-preservation.
And in order to maintain a normal standard of living, a person needs to work.
Even our ancestors worked all day, hunting mammoths to feed their families.
Now, we're sitting in offices to get paid.
But we can say for sure that people have begun to work much less than they used to.
Automation is growing daily, and people are increasingly replaced by robots and artificial
intelligence.
According to a study by American economists, by 2033, jobs will be reduced by 47% in the
United States.
The World Bank estimates that in China, this percentage will reach 77%.
Soon, roads will be filled with unmanned vehicles; airplanes won't need pilots; and ships won't
need captains.
Future 3D printers are even capable of reproducing food.
In the Chinese city of Harbin, there's a restaurant where the entire staff of waiters, dishwashers,
and cooks are robots.
In the near future, when ordering pizza, you'll communicate with artificial intelligence.
The pizza will be prepared on a printer, and delivery will be carried out by drones!
But don't worry, with the development of technology, new professions will appear.
Also, robots and artificial intelligence could never replace human creativity.
But what if a person doesn't just stop working, but stops needing work?
In the world, experiments with basic income have been conducted several times.
This is when the state gives people a certain amount of money per month, freeing them from
the need go to a job they don’t like.
The concept of labor would radically change.
People would stop working for money; they would start working for gratification.
In two cities of Namibia (South Africa), Omitara and Ochivero, a program like this lasted for
two years, under which the residents of these cities received 100 Namibian dollars a month,
which is about $8 in the US.
A study after this program showed that the number of poor citizens in the country decreased,
and overall the quality of life improved.
Similar programs were conducted in Brazil, India, Canada, and the United States.
And everywhere they ended with a positive result.
But if basic income were applied to all of humanity, wouldn't people become lazy?
Opinions are divided.
Almost all people work for money, in order to feed themselves and their families.
In other words, everyone works out of fear of being poor and hungry.
But if a person isn't afraid of a lack of money, then they'll be more creative and productive!
This conclusion was reached by some scientists who studied basic income.
But what will happen with the professions that not many people want to work in, for
example, garbage collection?
This is where automation and replacing people with robots come to the rescue.
Despite the perfect idea of “basic” income, many experts consider such a program to be
detrimental to humanity.
Along with useful technologies, the entertainment industry is developing: VR, video games, interactive
series.
Would you still want to work for gratification when, at any time, you could put on a VR headset
and be in a magical world of pleasure and adventure?
Yes, this is the dream of any teenager, but in such a world people would be able to sit
in their homes, and robots would do all the dirty work for them.
The reality around us would literally become gray and lifeless.
We've already seen a similar outcome in some films and cartoons, and we don’t want to
bring that to life.
Hey, if you learned something new today, then give the video a like and share it with a
friend!
And here are some other cool videos I think you'll enjoy.
Just click to the left or right, and stay on the Bright Side of life!.