I fully expect that millennials will some day receive the wrath of their grandchildren.
If we don't reject the failed ideas of the past, we will. We can't just pass the buck again and rely on nanny state counterfeit society like the last generations did. But that means understanding where they went wrong, and politicians always offer easy answers in exchange for power, and even though those answers are wrong, many find them too tempting.
Some kind of reset is almost inevitable. There’s just no way that the world’s mountain of debt will be repaid. The only options I see are massive defaults or hyperinflation.
Artificial intelligence, automation, and 3D printing suggest that there may be a huge wave of job destruction coming down the pike. I expect that talk of UBI and “helicopter money” will be all the rage, even if governments can’t hope to provide it without risking even faster defaults/hyperinflation. Money creation may need to come from blockchains rather than governments.
That said, there’s plenty of blame to go around. When was the last time someone said “Um, no thanks” to government money? Even Ayn Rand applied for Social Security and deposited the checks.
AI, automation, etc. won't create unemployment. they will change what employment is available on the market, but the economy has been experiencing that since at least the industrial revolution, and the result has been higher wealth production. 3D printing is more hype than practical micro-manufacturing, but it has the potential to decentralize the economy, and that is a good thing.
Oh, I may of course be proven wrong by events, but I think this time is different may finally be the case.
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. HP is rolling out 3D printers that can print steel.
Sintered metal is a decent option for many applications, but it has been widespread in industry for ages. Cutting the cost for the home user is great, but I still don't see it as the end of the manufacturing industry.