By Jessica Rose at Brownstone dot org.

I want to begin this article by reminding everyone reading it of the old parable of the man fishing alone on a beach. It goes something like this, more or less.

There's a man fishing alone on a beach with a single simple fishing pole. Another man walks up to him and asks him why he doesn't buy a boat to fish because then, he could catch more fish. The fisherman responds by saying: "Then what?" The passer-by then says in a matter-of-fact way: "Well then you could buy an even bigger boat and catch even more fish with the money from selling all of that fish!". The fisherman responds by saying: "Then what?" The passer-by confounded that the fisherman does not seem to understand what he is telling him balks: "Then you could retire and hire others to do the fishing for you!" The fisherman responds by saying: "Then what?" Even more confounded, the passer-by says: "Then you could have more time to spend doing what you love!"

The fisherman looks at him. And waits. For understanding. The passer-by then comprehends perhaps for the first time in his life that the long and often exploitative path to simplicity is pointless. The fisherman, even with all of the money in the world would be doing precisely what he already was doing.

Here's a more "well-known" version if you like.

One day, a wealthy businessman (or investment banker, in some tellings) was vacationing in a small coastal village in Mexico. He watched as a lone fisherman rowed his little boat back to shore with just a few large fish. The businessman complimented the fisherman on the quality of the catch and asked,

"How long did it take you to catch those?"

"Only a little while," the fisherman replied.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" the businessman asked.

"I caught enough for my family's needs today," the fisherman said.

The businessman pressed on:

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The fisherman smiled and answered, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.

"The businessman scoffed. "I'm a Harvard MBA – I can help you. You should spend more time fishing. With the extra money, buy a bigger boat. With the bigger boat, catch even more fish, then buy several boats and build a fleet. Cut out the middleman, sell directly to processors, open your own cannery. Control production, processing, and distribution. You'd eventually move to the city, expand to other locations, run a growing enterprise."

The fisherman listened patiently, then asked, "And how long would all that take?"

"Fifteen, maybe twenty years," the businessman replied.

"And then what?" the fisherman asked.

The businessman laughed. "That's the best part! When the time is right, you announce an IPO, sell your company stock to the public, make millions – become very rich!"

"Millions… and then what?" the fisherman repeated.

"Then," the businessman said triumphantly, "you could retire! Move to a small coastal village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings to sip wine and play guitar with your friends."

The fisherman looked at him quietly for a moment, then smiled and said, "But that's exactly what I'm already doing.

"The businessman stood there, speechless, as the simple truth sank in: the fisherman was already living the very life the ambitious man dreamed of achieving – after decades of grinding pursuit.

Pretty good summary on my part from memory.

I was walking today and knew that I had to write up some of the thoughts I had about automation being the key to the demise of what it means to be human.

To be connected. To work hard. To truly earn. To truly learn.

It got me thinking about one of the first examples of automation that was actually a really neat idea: the water wheel. Water wheels and similar devices appear...