4 ms·

> unless you actually think anybody wants the kind of job which is so tiresome it can be done with a machine instead. Journalists are probably gonna be automat

> unless you actually think anybody wants the kind of job which is so tiresome it can be done with a machine instead. Journalists are probably gonna be automated. Truck drivers as well. I bet those two categories are not of people who consider their jobs meaningless. Also, salesmen/saleswomen are being automated by websites. But their job is not beneath human dignity in any sense: it can be creative and highly social. So this seems to be an over-generalization

Spivak 9y ago
This seems like mostly semantics. If a machine can literally do your job then the claim is that it becomes beneath humans to do it. Your work will continue to have value so long as you can do it better and/or cheaper than a machine can. I don't think anyone denies that the process of making a hamburger can be automated, but this certainly doesn't put chefs out of business because they do it better. This is, say, in contrast with say a conveyor belt. No human will ever be able to do better in the task of moving and sorting large amounts of simple items over short distances.
- evilduck 9y ago
  Its pretty clear we're on a technological trajectory where anything mass produced and mass consumed like automated burgers that beat a chef's skill is only a matter of when it gets rolled out. Human made versions of things are going to be entirely relegated to artisan efforts where the human-introduced flaws are the aspect people value over the objective merits.
  - labster 9y ago
    There is a real difference between wanting variety and wanting flawed goods. Mass production is great for mass producing, but not so much for making unique items. We eat food prepared by a chef not because it is flawed compared to McDonald's, but because it's an experience that can't be mass produced.
    - adrianN 9y ago
      I mostly eat food made by a chef so that I don't have to do the dishes afterwards.
      - wtetzner 9y ago
        You don't have to do the dishes after eating McDonald's either.
wott 9y ago
> Also, salesmen/saleswomen are being automated by websites. But their job is not beneath human dignity That is disputable.

Spivak 9y ago

This seems like mostly semantics. If a machine can literally do your job then the claim is that it becomes beneath humans to do it. Your work will continue to have value so long as you can do it better and/or cheaper than a machine can. I don't think anyone denies that the process of making a hamburger can be automated, but this certainly doesn't put chefs out of business because they do it better. This is, say, in contrast with say a conveyor belt. No human will ever be able to do better in the task of moving and sorting large amounts of simple items over short distances.

evilduck 9y ago
Its pretty clear we're on a technological trajectory where anything mass produced and mass consumed like automated burgers that beat a chef's skill is only a matter of when it gets rolled out. Human made versions of things are going to be entirely relegated to artisan efforts where the human-introduced flaws are the aspect people value over the objective merits.
- labster 9y ago
  There is a real difference between wanting variety and wanting flawed goods. Mass production is great for mass producing, but not so much for making unique items. We eat food prepared by a chef not because it is flawed compared to McDonald's, but because it's an experience that can't be mass produced.
  - adrianN 9y ago
    I mostly eat food made by a chef so that I don't have to do the dishes afterwards.
    - wtetzner 9y ago
      You don't have to do the dishes after eating McDonald's either.

wott 9y ago

> Also, salesmen/saleswomen are being automated by websites. But their job is not beneath human dignity That is disputable.