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People don't realize that the tractor was basically the number one job killer for humanity. We went from 70%+ of the population involved in farming to less than

People don't realize that the tractor was basically the number one job killer for humanity. We went from 70%+ of the population involved in farming to less than 3%. We created new industries and jobs from that and we will do so again.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago
What jobs? There is a limit to human needs. At some point the robots will feed, clothe, transport, heal and entertain us all. What remains? Hobbies? We will have to invent make-work things for folks to do I guess. And call it work.
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  Like Facebook?
- TheGrimner 10y ago
  off the top of my head, : art, music, literature, relationships, exploration. without the requirement to toil, humanity could be free to explore the stars and enjoy this ride.
  - umanwizard 10y ago
    You're assuming whoever owns the means of production is okay with giving you enough of a share to survive.
- AJ007 10y ago
  The made up stuff already exists. The explanations a person gives for doing a particular thing perhaps has less to do with the logic of why and more to do with some fundamental instinct to keep busy.
- jlj 10y ago
  Art, music, creativity. Spending time with friends and family. Getting back to basics. Going fishing, hang out at the beach. Stargazing. Plant a garden. No commute or cubicles, work for the sake of doing interesting work. Traveling to Mars for fun. If all of our basic material needs are fulfilled, and we only take what we need, it would be an interesting and rewarding ride. That's the optimist side of me speaking. It could go the other way too if we humans want to keep fighting and arguing over resources and power. I hope that we could learn to get past that if everyone has what they need. I think about the change my 94 year old grandmother has seen in her lifetime. The technologies and types of jobs we have now compared to her early days are mind blowing. The rate of change today seems orders of magnitude faster and keeps accelerating. Bring on the robots.
  - intrasight 10y ago
    My grandmother was born in 1901 and passed away in 2000. The list of new technologies that came into being during her lifetime is astounding. Your todo list is very sensible and, in my opinion, very doable. Other than a couple items, I do it now. I would like to be optimistic and say that in the future with more automation that many more could live as well as I do.
- IndianAstronaut 10y ago
  >There is a limit to human needs. There is however no limit to human wants.
jordanb 10y ago
Well firstly industrialization was pretty awful for the people living through it. The collapse of rural economies pushed teeming millions into cities where they became an enormously cheap reserve army of labor. Go read Friedrich Engels describe Manchester in the 1840s. One thing that stuck with me was people laying in the alleyways starving to death because they couldn't find work. Secondly, no investment manager would be fulfilling his fiduciary duty if he didn't warn you that past performance does not guarantee future results. Just because the industrial revolution eventually ended up producing a different sort of job to employ all of humanity doesn't mean changes currently afoot will do the same.
chiefalchemist 10y ago
Right. But the new jobs - few that there are - are also being automated. The yet is negative. Which we're already seeing.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago

What jobs? There is a limit to human needs. At some point the robots will feed, clothe, transport, heal and entertain us all. What remains? Hobbies? We will have to invent make-work things for folks to do I guess. And call it work.

bbcbasic 10y ago
Like Facebook?
TheGrimner 10y ago
off the top of my head, : art, music, literature, relationships, exploration. without the requirement to toil, humanity could be free to explore the stars and enjoy this ride.
- umanwizard 10y ago
  You're assuming whoever owns the means of production is okay with giving you enough of a share to survive.
AJ007 10y ago
The made up stuff already exists. The explanations a person gives for doing a particular thing perhaps has less to do with the logic of why and more to do with some fundamental instinct to keep busy.
jlj 10y ago
Art, music, creativity. Spending time with friends and family. Getting back to basics. Going fishing, hang out at the beach. Stargazing. Plant a garden. No commute or cubicles, work for the sake of doing interesting work. Traveling to Mars for fun. If all of our basic material needs are fulfilled, and we only take what we need, it would be an interesting and rewarding ride. That's the optimist side of me speaking. It could go the other way too if we humans want to keep fighting and arguing over resources and power. I hope that we could learn to get past that if everyone has what they need. I think about the change my 94 year old grandmother has seen in her lifetime. The technologies and types of jobs we have now compared to her early days are mind blowing. The rate of change today seems orders of magnitude faster and keeps accelerating. Bring on the robots.
- intrasight 10y ago
  My grandmother was born in 1901 and passed away in 2000. The list of new technologies that came into being during her lifetime is astounding. Your todo list is very sensible and, in my opinion, very doable. Other than a couple items, I do it now. I would like to be optimistic and say that in the future with more automation that many more could live as well as I do.
IndianAstronaut 10y ago
>There is a limit to human needs. There is however no limit to human wants.

jordanb 10y ago

Well firstly industrialization was pretty awful for the people living through it. The collapse of rural economies pushed teeming millions into cities where they became an enormously cheap reserve army of labor. Go read Friedrich Engels describe Manchester in the 1840s. One thing that stuck with me was people laying in the alleyways starving to death because they couldn't find work. Secondly, no investment manager would be fulfilling his fiduciary duty if he didn't warn you that past performance does not guarantee future results. Just because the industrial revolution eventually ended up producing a different sort of job to employ all of humanity doesn't mean changes currently afoot will do the same.

chiefalchemist 10y ago

Right. But the new jobs - few that there are - are also being automated. The yet is negative. Which we're already seeing.