Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 387: It’s hard to say what will happen in the future, stepping into an ideal society [Please subscribe]

While Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking, the video continued.

"...what you thought was a way out, actually has 100 million people already involved."

"Recently, my friend dragged me to watch "Reverse Life", which tells a similar story..."

The next few minutes of the video are all about retrograde life and the discussion of employment issues in future generations, which allows Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and others to further understand the profession of food delivery riders wearing yellow robes.

After the video was over, Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a few breaths before he spoke.

"Liu Kuan, is the employment problem in the future really as serious as described in the video?"

Liu Kuan pondered for a moment and said, "I think it depends on how you think, or how you live."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly, "Oh, what do you mean?"

Liu Kuan immediately shared some of the views of later generations on work and life.

He gave another example, saying, "Take working as a screwdriver in a factory. After a while, you'll feel a kind of mental numbness. And most importantly, there's no room for advancement."

"My ancestors were fine with this kind of work. They thought it was fine as long as they could make money."

"But it's increasingly difficult for young people to adapt to such boring and hopeless jobs."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang still found it difficult to understand.

In his opinion, as long as he can make money, what's the big deal if it's boring?
As for mental numbness and physical damage - if it is a job like that of the female workers in Jinling Textile Factory, he does not think it will make people mentally numb or physically damaged.

The corvée labor of repairing cities, roads, and river channels is really tiring, and it will destroy the body over time.

"So it seems that the employment problem in later generations is not that serious. It seems that it is only serious because people in later generations have too high expectations for work?"

Liu Kuan's next words seemed to confirm Zhu Yuanzhang's idea.

"In fact, not all young people are unwilling to work in factories. In fact, in order to earn money to support their families, quite a number of young people, even college graduates, have joined factories and become ordinary workers."

"It's just that these people rarely speak out online. They're too low-key and have little sense of presence. Even society rarely focuses on them."

"On the contrary, those who gave up stable jobs to become freelance video bloggers, anchors, or delivery drivers attracted a lot of public attention in the years before I came to Daming."

"Also, the Xin Dynasty in the future will have a population of 14 billion. Excluding the elderly and children who cannot work, there will still be million to million people left. Even if there are indeed million people who are unemployed, that only accounts for one-eighth of the population."

"In fact, as far as I know, many people are only temporarily unemployed and will find jobs after a while; some are unemployed by choice, not because they cannot find a job."

After hearing Liu Kuan's words, Zhu Biao wondered, "According to what my brother-in-law said, isn't the host of the video just now exaggerating?"

Liu Kuan shook his head again. "It's not an exaggeration. It's easy for people in the future to find a job that can provide themselves and their families with food and clothing."

"However, it is not easy to find a job that satisfies me and allows my family to live a happy life in the current sense."

"In addition, in the thirty or forty years before I came to the Ming Dynasty, the entire society showed a trend of continuous improvement."

"For example, even if a person only earns 3,000 yuan a month, he or she will still spend 3,000 or even 4,000 yuan. This is because he or she is confident that he or she can continue to earn 3,000 yuan, or even more, next month."

"But starting four or five years before I came to the Ming Dynasty, the global economy began to weaken, and all countries were affected to varying degrees."

"Some companies have laid off employees, and some companies and factories have reduced salaries, making it difficult to make money in business, and even easy to lose money - this has reduced people's confidence in making money.

Upon hearing this, those in the Zhu family who could understand a little could not help but fall into deep thought.

Liu Kuan was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao didn't understand, so he added, "In fact, this kind of problem, which may seem insignificant at first, but ultimately has a significant negative impact on the country if it is not resolved, has occurred throughout history."

"Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. As early as after the Xuande reign, the imperial court recognized the shortcomings of the military system of the garrisons, the artisan household system, and the imperial family policy, and attempted to implement some reforms." "For example, during the Tianshun reign, tens of thousands of artisans fled. The court, on the one hand, tried to appease them, and on the other, strictly arrested the escaped artisans and sent them to the garrisons as exiles."

"During the Chenghua period, the problem became more serious, so the government issued an order that shift workers could pay silver in lieu of labor service, and that resident workers could also pay to hire someone to do the work for them."

"Even so, the artisan household system had a significant negative impact on the Ming Dynasty. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the quality of the imperial court's military equipment became very poor, and many armies simply ordered supplies from the public. This further accelerated the formation of military power."

"By the time of the Tianqi and Chongzhen dynasties, the imperial court even focused on purchasing guns and cannons from the Western barbarians—if there weren't major flaws in the artisan household system, how could this have come to this?"

After listening to the example of the "artisan household system" which had long been understood, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao finally had a clearer understanding of the "employment problem" in later generations.

But Lao Zhu was a little unhappy after hearing the example of the "artisan household system" - the artisan household system had great shortcomings, but didn't he ask for it to be changed?
As Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking this, he heard Liu Kuan ask, "Your Majesty, have you heard the Crown Prince relay what I have said about the global unemployment wave caused by artificial intelligence?"

"I've heard of it." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled. "The employment situation in the future is already severe. With the emergence of artificial intelligence, the problem will only be worse, right?"

Liu Kuan also smiled and said, "In fact, when people in later generations discussed this matter, they believed there was another possibility - that the productivity of the new dynasty would develop again due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution brought about by artificial intelligence."

"If AI can lead to major technological breakthroughs in energy and materials, such as achieving controlled nuclear fusion, then the new dynasty may take a major step towards an ideal society."

Zhu Yuanzhang was curious, "What is an ideal society?"

Liu Kuan said: "Not only will people no longer have to worry about hunger and cold, they will no longer have to worry about earning money to support their families. Houses, cars, marriages and children's education will all be available."

"In this way, people don't have to work and be busy just to support their families, and can pursue their hobbies and ideals."

"For example, if someone likes painting, then regardless of whether they can make money from it, they can continue to study painting. If someone likes making clothes, even if the clothes they make are not popular, as long as they are willing, they can continue to do it."

"Something like that."

Upon hearing this, both men like Zhu Biao and Zhu Ying, and women like Empress Ma, showed expressions of fascination.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up at first, but then he shook his head and said, "Although I don't know how powerful artificial intelligence is, I still think the ideal society you talk about is unlikely to be realized. You've overlooked an important factor—human greed!"

Liu Kuan was silent.

Because he had to admit that what Zhu Yuanzhang said made sense.

Even if technology develops rapidly again, as long as there are people, there will be desires. Some people want to rank higher and lower, some want to control others, and some want to obtain wealth far beyond others.

Human hearts are like this, their desires are insatiable.

Coming back to his senses, Liu Kuan felt that there was no point in discussing this issue any further, so he said, "Your Majesty, shall we go to the movies?"

Zhu Yuanzhang had no intention of discussing the issue any further - if those problems could not be solved by the new dynasties of later generations, they would probably be even more difficult to solve when they appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

It is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to last forever.

"Okay, let's put on the movie."

Liu Kuan immediately picked up the tablet and played the prepared movie.

Lao Zhu, Zhu Biao and others took a look and found that the movie Liu Kuan was looking for was the "Reverse Life" introduced in the video just now.

When the video was introduced just now, many people were very curious about this movie, and now they are watching it with great interest...
Two hours later, the movie was over.

The Zhu family thought about the semi-open ending of the movie, and no one spoke for a while.

After a few breaths, Zhu Yunhuan asked, "Teacher, how come there are so many food delivery riders in the future?"

(End of this chapter)