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Can't upvote this enough. I was recently at a talk by Kenneth Cukier from the Economist and he discussed how our economic climate is similar to the early days o
by yomly 10y ago
Can't upvote this enough. I was recently at a talk by Kenneth Cukier from the Economist and he discussed how our economic climate is similar to the early days of the industrial revolution - inequality is increasing as jobs are being eroded by technology. In the short term, this actually causes problems as a whole generation are essentially displaced by technology and are not able to reskill, but in the long term the next generation inherit the right skill base to benefit from the new trajectory of civilization and mass prosperity is achieved.
The problem is that individuals often cannot see the bigger picture. It also does not necessarily follow that individuals benefit from aggregate wealth creation. If you are unemployed (by technology) and can no longer feed yourself or your dependents why do you really care that goods are now available cheaper and can be delivered 247: you still can't afford them. If in your lifetime technology only brought starvation upon you, why should you care that future generations will benefit. Last I checked, we are not indoctrinated from young to be altruistic martyrs for humanity nor do I recall that being a basic human instinct either.
So displacement is a somewhat inevitable outcome from mass technological disruption. It's very easy to champion progress when you're on the winning side, and ultimately progress is important. It falls to the powerful (the wealthy like Gates and Zuckerberg) and nation States to protect the interest of all citizens to make sure everyone's basic rights are still preserved. Especially over trasitory eras such as the current one.
- coldtea 10y ago>but in the long term the next generation inherit the right skill base to benefit from the new trajectory of civilization and mass prosperity is achieved. I don't think we have enough examples from history to make this in some kind of universal law. Mass prosperity might just as well NOT be achieved.
- incongruity 10y agoIs there any chance you have a link to the talk or related content? That sounds worth watching...
- yomly 10y agoThis is the talk [0]. It was interesting, although in the talk he only addressed the issue of erosion of jobs quite briefly. He spent more time how AI was augmenting/disrupting a variety of industries. It was more of a penny drop moment for me than an in-depth discussion on that particular topic. The talks were filmed so they may be accessible somewhere, though I know the speaker writes on the subject so his writing may be more readily accessible. As a free tip/shameless preach a book which has impacted me greatly recently is Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt[1]. The more people that read this book, the better. [0] http://conferences.oreilly.com/strata/hadoop-big-data-eu/public/schedule/detail/53261 http://conferences.oreilly.com/strata/hadoop-big-data-eu/pub... [1]https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143118765/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471382879&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=ill+fares+the+land https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143118765/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=...
- musha68k 10y agoALL ONE OR NONE
- kncukier 10y agoHey - thanks for the nice words. The talk builds on work I'm doing for my upcoming book on AI. A link to the video of the talk is at: https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/strata-hadoop/9781491944639/video249103.html https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/strata-hadoop... If you'd like to read more on the topic, the book Big Data is at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009N08NKW/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009N08NKW/ (or a synopsis, for free, is at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2013-04-03/rise-big-data https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2013-04-03/rise-big-...) Have stories to tell about how AI is changing business and society? Please reach me via twitter at @kncukier Thanks!
- dmix 10y agoThanks for the links. Is the video posted elsewhere? Only a preview was available at that Safari link.
- kncukier 10y agoHey - thanks for the nice words. The talk builds on work I'm doing for my upcoming book on AI. A link to the video of the talk is at: https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/strata-hadoop/9781491944639/video249103.html https://www.safaribooksonline.com/library/view/strata-hadoop... If you'd like to read more on the topic, the book Big Data is at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009N08NKW/ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009N08NKW/ (or a synopsis, for free, is at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2013-04-03/rise-big-data https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2013-04-03/rise-big-...) Have stories to tell about how AI is changing business and society? Please reach me via twitter at @kncukier Thanks!
- norea-armozel 10y agoIt's why I think capital should be given the old Georgism treatment. Basically, an land-value-like tax which either funds/bolsters welfare or a direct check to all people below the poverty line. Either way, something needs to be done about the inequalities of concentrated capital.