6 ms·

You kinda missed the whole point of the OP, which was, if people don't add value to a business, how will said valueless people put food on the table and partici

You kinda missed the whole point of the OP, which was, if people don't add value to a business, how will said valueless people put food on the table and participate in society?

coldtea 9y ago
If many of those people don't have money to "put food on the table and participate in society" who will be able to pay any business for anything?
- hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
  People who can participate (those with the skills necessary to manage more complex systems as he states in his blog post). The scary part is it looks like wealth will be increasingly concentrated, and more and more people will fall to a level where what we consider basic needs in modern society (food, shelter, education and health care) will no longer be attainable. As the author points out, "it will be messy": Those societies usually don't end well.
  - coldtea 9y ago
    >People who can participate A diminishing pool of people to pay for stuff, not only hurts businesses profits, but also diminishes the pool of rich people (who make their money off of selling products, houses, services, etc to the masses).
- wu-ikkyu 9y ago
  Bingo! If humans are continually replaced by robots without being given an income subsidized by the benefits of automation, in the long run, the robots will have to be shut down because the humans can longer pay for the products!
  - sqeaky 9y ago
    You are missing a great deal of suffering in the middle. Decent hard working people can start dying long before the robots must shut down.
lordlimecat 9y ago
The same way we have every time an industry has disappeared in the past: by participating in the newly opened industries. Is it rough when (for example) shipping crates put a bunch of longshoremen out of a job, when they are in their 50s and too old to easily retrain? Sure. But how many people now not only enjoy (as customers) the benefits that Amazon provides, but also enjoy the employment benefits of a massively expanded global market? On the other hand, the alternatives are harsher: as the population grows and people resist the very innovation that could create new markets, unemployment will grow. For all the problems we have in the US, providing low unemployment is not one.
- ebiester 9y ago
  50% of the population have an IQ below 100. 16ish percent have an IQ below 85. What are they going to do? We've already essentially phased out the useful work that people under IQ 70 can do. It's likely that it's creeped up to 75 or 80, even. As these are automated, let's creep it up to 90. It also takes out those who are poor and have no branch on which to gain experience for their first job. If we have eliminated the first jobs for all but the most talented and those with connections, what does a somewhat bright poor student do? Well, it used to be they got a job, proved themselves, and worked their way up. Now, what do they do when they don't have the social capital to get to the point where they can work up? What are these newly opened industries that will work with these people?
  - freshhawk 9y ago
    > What are these newly opened industries that will work with these people? As far as I can tell, it's "magic future ones" and the evidence for these statements is "because I hope that's what happens".
    - fooza 9y ago
      Food delivery service for one. Startups like uber eats and foodora give jobs to people who like to ride fast on bikes, bike deliveries existed before in major cities but not like this.

You kinda missed the whole point of the OP, which was, if people don't add value to a business, how will said valueless people put food on the table and participate in society?

coldtea 9y ago

If many of those people don't have money to "put food on the table and participate in society" who will be able to pay any business for anything?

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
People who can participate (those with the skills necessary to manage more complex systems as he states in his blog post). The scary part is it looks like wealth will be increasingly concentrated, and more and more people will fall to a level where what we consider basic needs in modern society (food, shelter, education and health care) will no longer be attainable. As the author points out, "it will be messy": Those societies usually don't end well.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >People who can participate A diminishing pool of people to pay for stuff, not only hurts businesses profits, but also diminishes the pool of rich people (who make their money off of selling products, houses, services, etc to the masses).
wu-ikkyu 9y ago
Bingo! If humans are continually replaced by robots without being given an income subsidized by the benefits of automation, in the long run, the robots will have to be shut down because the humans can longer pay for the products!
- sqeaky 9y ago
  You are missing a great deal of suffering in the middle. Decent hard working people can start dying long before the robots must shut down.

lordlimecat 9y ago

The same way we have every time an industry has disappeared in the past: by participating in the newly opened industries. Is it rough when (for example) shipping crates put a bunch of longshoremen out of a job, when they are in their 50s and too old to easily retrain? Sure. But how many people now not only enjoy (as customers) the benefits that Amazon provides, but also enjoy the employment benefits of a massively expanded global market? On the other hand, the alternatives are harsher: as the population grows and people resist the very innovation that could create new markets, unemployment will grow. For all the problems we have in the US, providing low unemployment is not one.

ebiester 9y ago
50% of the population have an IQ below 100. 16ish percent have an IQ below 85. What are they going to do? We've already essentially phased out the useful work that people under IQ 70 can do. It's likely that it's creeped up to 75 or 80, even. As these are automated, let's creep it up to 90. It also takes out those who are poor and have no branch on which to gain experience for their first job. If we have eliminated the first jobs for all but the most talented and those with connections, what does a somewhat bright poor student do? Well, it used to be they got a job, proved themselves, and worked their way up. Now, what do they do when they don't have the social capital to get to the point where they can work up? What are these newly opened industries that will work with these people?
- freshhawk 9y ago
  > What are these newly opened industries that will work with these people? As far as I can tell, it's "magic future ones" and the evidence for these statements is "because I hope that's what happens".
  - fooza 9y ago
    Food delivery service for one. Startups like uber eats and foodora give jobs to people who like to ride fast on bikes, bike deliveries existed before in major cities but not like this.