3 ms·

I'm all for capitalism and efficiency, but there really needs to be a more robust system to relocate and re-educate people who are displaced like this. Whether

I'm all for capitalism and efficiency, but there really needs to be a more robust system to relocate and re-educate people who are displaced like this. Whether it be automation or any industry disruption in general. Massive tax breaks if you need to relocate or retrain maybe. Access to free-ish or maybe even subsidized education due to layoff. We need to make the human side of the equation in any job easier to flow from one region of the US to another. I say this, but in the long term we should also be discussing what a "post-work" economy looks like when the machines ultimately take over everything and there is nowhere left to run...

KyeRussell 9y ago
These programs need to scale, and you need money to facilitate them. I don't think there are very many huge industries where a large number of workers can flock to and be competent enough in to make money, especially if they lack transferrable skills. The companies dabbling in automation are doing it to cut costs. They—at a minimum—need to recover their R&D spend. The utopian view that automation instantly makes everything cheaper doesn't stand up when you consider the fact that our global productivity keeps rising while wages remain stagnant - it's easy to see where all that saved money goes. I agree with you fully, but it's going to take some radical government policy to raise enough money to fund these sorts of programs. It's very unfortunate.
jacob019 9y ago
There will never be a post work economy. If machines drive down the cost of labor then perhaps we will see rising inequality, but lower labor costs would put some machines out of business. From what I've observed though technology has made the world a much better place for all mankind. Some may be hurt on short timescales and we should work to improve that.

3 ms·

I'm all for capitalism and efficiency, but there really needs to be a more robust system to relocate and re-educate people who are displaced like this. Whether

by noetic_techy 9y ago

KyeRussell 9y ago
These programs need to scale, and you need money to facilitate them. I don't think there are very many huge industries where a large number of workers can flock to and be competent enough in to make money, especially if they lack transferrable skills. The companies dabbling in automation are doing it to cut costs. They—at a minimum—need to recover their R&D spend. The utopian view that automation instantly makes everything cheaper doesn't stand up when you consider the fact that our global productivity keeps rising while wages remain stagnant - it's easy to see where all that saved money goes. I agree with you fully, but it's going to take some radical government policy to raise enough money to fund these sorts of programs. It's very unfortunate.
jacob019 9y ago
There will never be a post work economy. If machines drive down the cost of labor then perhaps we will see rising inequality, but lower labor costs would put some machines out of business. From what I've observed though technology has made the world a much better place for all mankind. Some may be hurt on short timescales and we should work to improve that.