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>We need to update the New Deal for the 21st century and establish a trainee program for the new jobs artificial intelligence will create. Maybe I'm being a bi

>We need to update the New Deal for the 21st century and establish a trainee program for the new jobs artificial intelligence will create. Maybe I'm being a bit pessimistic, but can AI really create jobs just by taking over old ones? Sure we could train some new "data analysts [and] trip optimizers", but in the end can we really mass replace low skilled blue collar jobs with higher skilled ones with the wave of a wand? In the period between when robots can automate the majority of low skill jobs and virtually all jobs, there is very likely to be some sort of significant turmoil as our economy undergoes a paradigm shift of sorts, and I don't think "just retrain workers" is that viable of a solution.

ThomPete 10y ago
That paradigm shift is happening as we speak.
rm_-rf_slash 10y ago
When I hear "retraining workers," I usually think of Charlie (of "And the Chocolate Factory" fame)'s dad losing his job screwing in toothpaste caps and coming back in the end as a technician for the machines that took his job. That is the wrong way to approach this new shift. There will simply be too many menial jobs made obsolete for blue collar workers to step up into supervision/technician roles. Instead, they will have to find new kinds of jobs. The kinds of jobs that cannot be replaced by robots without getting stuck in the Uncanny Valley. Jobs like personal trainers, yoga instructors, physical/massage therapists, tattoo artists, hairdressers, and so on. Unless a robot can 100% mimic human form and action, these jobs aren't going anywhere - certainly not overseas. I'm calling it here and now: as jobs are lost too quickly for people to retrain (or even want to adopt an entirely new skill set) we will see a new push for the legalization of prostitution. If nothing else, you can always sell your body by the half-hour, and no robot could ever truly replicate the closest of human touch.
- wangchow 10y ago
  new job: rage against the machine. Joke aside, it's funny all the Uber drivers are collecting data for a company that is going to replace them with AI cars..
- gaius 10y ago
  There will simply be too many menial jobs made obsolete for blue collar workers to step up into supervision/technician roles I think you're thinking about this backwards. AI will claim professional jobs like accountants and lawyers LONG before it affects hairdressers and plumbers.
  - naveen99 10y ago
    This is partly because robotics and computation are orthogonal. We have fast progress in computation, but robotic progress is much slower at the scale of human hands.
- nsxwolf 10y ago
  Oh, great. AI is going to make us all into whores.
JoeAltmaier 10y ago
Agreed. We used to wish for the day automation would take the burden of work from our shoulders. Now that's its upon us, all I hear is "how will we put everybody back to work?!" How about: we don't have to work like that any more. Ever again.

ThomPete 10y ago

That paradigm shift is happening as we speak.

rm_-rf_slash 10y ago

When I hear "retraining workers," I usually think of Charlie (of "And the Chocolate Factory" fame)'s dad losing his job screwing in toothpaste caps and coming back in the end as a technician for the machines that took his job. That is the wrong way to approach this new shift. There will simply be too many menial jobs made obsolete for blue collar workers to step up into supervision/technician roles. Instead, they will have to find new kinds of jobs. The kinds of jobs that cannot be replaced by robots without getting stuck in the Uncanny Valley. Jobs like personal trainers, yoga instructors, physical/massage therapists, tattoo artists, hairdressers, and so on. Unless a robot can 100% mimic human form and action, these jobs aren't going anywhere - certainly not overseas. I'm calling it here and now: as jobs are lost too quickly for people to retrain (or even want to adopt an entirely new skill set) we will see a new push for the legalization of prostitution. If nothing else, you can always sell your body by the half-hour, and no robot could ever truly replicate the closest of human touch.

wangchow 10y ago
new job: rage against the machine. Joke aside, it's funny all the Uber drivers are collecting data for a company that is going to replace them with AI cars..
gaius 10y ago
There will simply be too many menial jobs made obsolete for blue collar workers to step up into supervision/technician roles I think you're thinking about this backwards. AI will claim professional jobs like accountants and lawyers LONG before it affects hairdressers and plumbers.
- naveen99 10y ago
  This is partly because robotics and computation are orthogonal. We have fast progress in computation, but robotic progress is much slower at the scale of human hands.
nsxwolf 10y ago
Oh, great. AI is going to make us all into whores.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago

Agreed. We used to wish for the day automation would take the burden of work from our shoulders. Now that's its upon us, all I hear is "how will we put everybody back to work?!" How about: we don't have to work like that any more. Ever again.