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>Also, a large part (40-50%?) of the population might not be needed, or even desired, e.g. poor and older people that put a strain in the economy, so, they migh
by r2dnb 10y ago
>Also, a large part (40-50%?) of the population might not be needed, or even desired, e.g. poor and older people that put a strain in the economy, so, they might be delegated to "b class" citizen status, and might end up living in some developing world like wasteland/slums in the next 50 years or so, while another big percentage has service jobs, and a 10-20% of luckier people live in closed communities.
I think this is very possible. And I suspect that the overwhelming majority of the b-citizens will be people not knowing how to write a software.
I say it continually to those I love (close friends, family etc...) : unless very specific career choices, starting in life today and deciding that "having no clue about coding is fine", is at best a dangerous gamble, at worth a suicide.
I think Darwin kind of applies in our modern society but people do not notice it. For example, what led me to doing engineering studies was pure survival instinct.
I have a business profile - and am a business owner today - still heavily writing code, and intending to keep doing it.
Since I'm about 12, I knew that my stuff was starting companies, business strategy, product design, corporate finance and this kind of stuff. That's what I was toying with in my spare time. But a pragmatic analysis of the world led me to quickly realize that I'd be better off being proficient in technology stuff, to avoid being at a big disadvantage since all the stuff I'd be selling and designing were going to be technology-based.
At the time, I said in the way children speak : "I want to be able to build what I will be selling so that I do not have to depend on the good will of anyone". And this was the smartest move I ever made in my life. And this kind of thinking is what continually puts me ahead.
I think it would be interesting to find a way to measure the "survival instinct" of people, and see if there's a correlation with those who do "well" and those who find themselves surprised at every recession and industrial revolution.
- jonathansizz 10y agoYou think millions of unskilled and semi-skilled workers can be retrained as software developers and that there'll be employment opportunities for these millions of new programmers? I think it's much more likely that many existing programming jobs will also be automated away.
- r2dnb 10y agoThe concept of spending a life being employed is rather new. In the future the majority of people will be business owners... like in the old days. And what I'm saying is that these businesses will likely be software-based, and that those being software-illiterate will have a life as comfortable as the one lived by illiterate people before them. Software is becoming the new paper, this is what I am saying. Today, we on HN are like the Lords and the clergy who were the only ones able to read and write and hereby be involved in the important business of their times. The history only repeat itself. And it will always.