(RAR) Fix Mega City One

[Cykeisme]

Where does the infaltion drive come from?

Automation and technology makes some jobs rise in productivity, at least theoretically leading to higher wages in those jobs. Other jobs don't have productivity rises, but since costs of living often tend to go up over time, and the non-productivity-rising jobs have to pay enough to keep their people from leaving and going to do other jobs, the costs of having those jobs goes up even without productivity gains.

It's a problem in Economics called "Baumol's Cost Disease".

I'm not familiar with the term, but wouldn't that situation have the opposite effect, driving wages down?

If there's still the same number of people looking for that type of job, but fewer positions open, then the competition is fiercer among job candidates. Thus, the companies can afford to pay less, because the "job market" is saturated. Sort of like an extension of supply and demand.

I thought that was already happening with certain kinds of jobs, too.

[Guardsman Bass]

I think you misunderstood. With Baumol's Cost Disease, it's not that there are fewer positions but the same number of people - it's that there are the same number of positions and people required, but the String Quartet has to pay higher wages in order to get people to play in it as opposed to going off and doing higher paid jobs somewhere else. They have to raise their wages without any real increase in "output", which means that prices usually have to go up.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I don't think Mega City One's 90% unemployment rate makes sense (even aside from the fact that if they're not looking for jobs, they're technically not unemployed). With that much cheap labor, there should be companies using people to do all kinds of random tasks, even if it basically consists of the whole "monitor the robots to make sure they don't screw" type of thing or the 21st century equivalent of telemarketing/sweat shop labor.
That government stipend must be pretty generous and unconditional, sort of like how the unemployment rate in the Persian Gulf countries is really high among citizens because the oil-rich governments give them money (and their economies are built on the backs of imported labor).
.

The MegaCity 1 stiped is EXTREMELY generous, and unconditional. (It applies to all adult citizens as I recall, including those in the Iso-Cubes). It's around 2,000 Credits a month (which is mainly used on pure luxury). Housing as I recall (Judge Dredd RPG) is provided free, media and entertainment are free or massively subsidized, as are most services.
The RPG described it as being equivalent for any citizen to be able to indulge in a wide variety of constantly changing hobbies (including such things as flying, cosmetic surgery, extreme sports, immersive video games, etc' ), along with providing an indulgent and very high standard of living in terms of luxuries and (again, heavily subsidized) entertainment, some travel and food.
Think of the typical sterotypical american upper middle class family in exurbs.

[NeoGoomba]

This thread has been really goddamn interesting to me, and really makes me want to read some Dredd (especially after just watching the awesome Urban Dredd film. What would be a good tpb for me to start with, having never read any of it?

[The Grim Squeaker]

This thread has been really goddamn interesting to me, and really makes me want to read some Dredd (especially after just watching the awesome Urban Dredd film. What would be a good tpb for me to start with, having never read any of it?

The Classics:
The Cursed Earth. The Judge Child. The Day the Law Died. The Dark Judges.

Source
The Pitt.

Followed by: The Apocalypse War. America (A very different story). Origins. Necropolis (+ "The Dead Man"). Tour of Duty.

[Guardsman Bass]

The MegaCity 1 stiped is EXTREMELY generous, and unconditional. (It applies to all adult citizens as I recall, including those in the Iso-Cubes). It's around 2,000 Credits a month (which is mainly used on pure luxury). Housing as I recall (Judge Dredd RPG) is provided free, media and entertainment are free or massively subsidized, as are most services.
The RPG described it as being equivalent for any citizen to be able to indulge in a wide variety of constantly changing hobbies (including such things as flying, cosmetic surgery, extreme sports, immersive video games, etc' ), along with providing an indulgent and very high standard of living in terms of luxuries and (again, heavily subsidized) entertainment, some travel and food.
Think of the typical sterotypical american upper middle class family in exurbs.

That makes sense, then. Only a tiny fraction of the overall population would even be in the work-force, doing jobs either because they really like money, power, or civic duty.

So does the rampant crime happen simply because people have a ton of free time and get bored, or because of the frequent calamities that disrupt public order and leave everything in chaos to be sorted out all over again? I tend to think that people would more likely figure out stuff to do with their time, even if it's the equivalent of spending 12 hours a day in super-immersive video games playing with other people - like MMORPGs and Second Life on steroids. That's what old people who have retired generally do, if they're not decrepit and have the money for it.

I wonder if the place would have higher birth rate compared to now. The combination of greater automation and more free time means that people could more easily raise children. They probably need that if the mega-city is getting hammered over and over again.

[Solauren]

Question: Close to Memory + Personality Flash-Imprinting Technology is Mega City One?

Cause to me, it would seem the solution would be to take the best 30 judges (i.e Dredd and Anderson both come to mind), and mass produce them. Say a force equal to 5%of Mega City's Population.

Option #1
Then use this force to sweep up all the drug dealers and other offenders, and then take control and legalize the production of all narcotics in megacity, with centralized distribution centers.

Option #2
It also occurs to me that, if they have the technology, mandatory resettlement to other planets to set up colonies without a lot of automation, so people have to work to do.

Option #3 -
Set up and stick as many people as possible into 'the Matrix' or something similar.

[madd0ct0r]

Question: Close to Memory + Personality Flash-Imprinting Technology is Mega City One?

Cause to me, it would seem the solution would be to take the best 30 judges (i.e Dredd and Anderson both come to mind), and mass produce them.

it's been tried, and always results in hilarity.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Question: Close to Memory + Personality Flash-Imprinting Technology is Mega City One?

Cause to me, it would seem the solution would be to take the best 30 judges (i.e Dredd and Anderson both come to mind), and mass produce them.

it's been tried, and always results in hilarity.

That, and they do clone many ofthe best judges rather extensively. ((Joseph) Dredd himself, along with Rico Dredd, are clones of the founder of the justice system, Fargo Dredd)

[FaxModem1]

How much of the galaxy is actually settled? They do have colonies in the solar system, but what about outside it? Could they make colony ships and send thousands or millions to settle other solar systems?

[The Grim Squeaker]

How much of the galaxy is actually settled? They do have colonies in the solar system, but what about outside it? Could they make colony ships and send thousands or millions to settle other solar systems?

The overall galaxy is quite densely populated , with a lot of other alien species and empires; And competition from the other mega cities, most of which have their own space programs. It's not quite as bad as "Old Man's War" , but colonies are far from being viable for relocating the majority of the population (as opposed to a small percentage of the population growth).

[Guardsman Bass]

How much of the galaxy is actually settled? They do have colonies in the solar system, but what about outside it? Could they make colony ships and send thousands or millions to settle other solar systems?

The overall galaxy is quite densely populated , with a lot of other alien species and empires; And competition from the other mega cities, most of which have their own space programs. It's not quite as bad as "Old Man's War" , but colonies are far from being viable for relocating the majority of the population (as opposed to a small percentage of the population growth).

It seems like they might benefit from O'Neill Cylinder-style colonies, assuming they can afford them. They could put up a couple of those in the solar system without encroaching on alien space.

[FaxModem1]

So, essentially, make a bunch of cylinder space stations and have judges there acting as sheriffs? That and the non-lethal deputy robots seem to be the best solution until the Earth is habitable again.