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You're absolutely right! Trucking is a major sector of employment. It's also a major source of life-shortening occupational health problems. The life expectanc

by Kalium 8y ago

You're absolutely right! Trucking is a major sector of employment. It's also a major source of life-shortening occupational health problems. The life expectancy of a trucker is 16 years shorter than the norm. Why are you so eager to protect jobs that are measurably killing the people who work them? Do you value these jobs so much that you're willing to pay for them in human lives? For my own part, I'd rather have a million former truckers who need retraining and new skillsets than a million dead truckers. But that's me, and I'm known to be weird.

j88439h84 8y ago
> The life expectancy of a trucker is 16 years shorter than the norm. Source? What's "the norm"?
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  Exactly. Does the norm include women? Truckers are mostly male and women live longer. Take the typical male life expectancy and knock off a few years as a result of sitting in a chair all aday the kind of diet you wind up having from always being on the road and "16yr less than the norm" seems perfectly reasonable
SolarNet 8y ago
Great redirect, but you failed to answer the actual question. But first a rebuttable. First of all the life expectancy between college education and highschool education is 12 years. So that's only a 4 year shorter gap. (Perhaps universal medical care would fix this problem) Second, do you seriously think the US has the capacity to handle 2 million unemployed truck drivers in the course of a couple years? That's a 10% increase overnight, and I have news for you, schools are already overburdened. (Perhaps free college education would provide the money to improve capacity, and fix two problems with one stone) Third, the real problem is the jobs. What job are they going to do once they get their degree. Millennials are already one of the most highly trained yes underpaid generations yet, and they have the advantage of youth. The jobs aren't coming back from these sorts of events. (Perhaps a universal basic income would fix this problem) And finally the real question was: What are we going to do about it. It was a request to have a conversation about the solution. Not to stop it from happening. I've provided my solutions, in the spirit of conversation I would be curious to see what you identify as problems, and your proposed solutions.
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  Comparing college vs high school graduate life expectancies isn't valid because truckers aren't a subset of one or the other; they have a good proportion from both groups. Taking off 12 years is the maximum effect assuming there isn't a single trucker that has a college degree, which of course isn't true.
shawn 8y ago
It's offensive to claim that you know what's better for someone than the person living the life. Humans Need Not Apply is an interesting perspective on some of these issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU
dntrkv 8y ago
> The life expectancy of a trucker is 16 years shorter than the norm Where did you get this figure? Searching it for it turns up sources that discredit the claim.
ergothus 8y ago
> Why are you so eager to protect jobs that are measurably killing the people who work them? uh...I'm not. Don't know where you got the idea that I was. Rather, I'd like to spend this lead up time before that industry is heavily hit to try and make sure the hit isn't so negative. Skill training programs, driver involvement in determining how the (future) devices would best work, etc. Make this a semi-planned obsolescence instead of a long-expected "surprise".
a3n 8y ago
> For my own part, I'd rather have a million former truckers who need retraining and new skillsets than a million dead truckers. I think figuring out how to deal with displaced categories of workers is a tougher problem than automated vehicles. In any discussion like this, when I hear "retraining," I think of some county workforce office teaching you how to use Microsoft Word and Excel, giving you a certificate, giving you access to their jobs database, and forgetting about you.
- alexgmcm 8y ago
  Well there was the GI Bill that helped veterans retrain after WW2 in proper careers at real universities etc. But that's a lot more expensive (although maybe less expensive in the long run than having a load of unproductive citizens)
astebbin 8y ago
It’s also life-shortening to suddenly and unexpectedly lost your job, especially when you’re over 40 and “retraining” isn’t really an option, or when all the other jobs have been automated away.
imtringued 8y ago
>Do you value these jobs so much that you're willing to pay for them in human lives? I don't really get what you're trying to say. Every hour I'm working at any job reduces my lifespan by one hour. The entire idea of work is that I'm paying with my own human life to obtain something else. If the truck drivers get a new job they will still have to pay with their own life.

by Kalium 8y ago

j88439h84 8y ago

> The life expectancy of a trucker is 16 years shorter than the norm. Source? What's "the norm"?

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Exactly. Does the norm include women? Truckers are mostly male and women live longer. Take the typical male life expectancy and knock off a few years as a result of sitting in a chair all aday the kind of diet you wind up having from always being on the road and "16yr less than the norm" seems perfectly reasonable

SolarNet 8y ago

Great redirect, but you failed to answer the actual question. But first a rebuttable. First of all the life expectancy between college education and highschool education is 12 years. So that's only a 4 year shorter gap. (Perhaps universal medical care would fix this problem) Second, do you seriously think the US has the capacity to handle 2 million unemployed truck drivers in the course of a couple years? That's a 10% increase overnight, and I have news for you, schools are already overburdened. (Perhaps free college education would provide the money to improve capacity, and fix two problems with one stone) Third, the real problem is the jobs. What job are they going to do once they get their degree. Millennials are already one of the most highly trained yes underpaid generations yet, and they have the advantage of youth. The jobs aren't coming back from these sorts of events. (Perhaps a universal basic income would fix this problem) And finally the real question was: What are we going to do about it. It was a request to have a conversation about the solution. Not to stop it from happening. I've provided my solutions, in the spirit of conversation I would be curious to see what you identify as problems, and your proposed solutions.

CydeWeys 8y ago
Comparing college vs high school graduate life expectancies isn't valid because truckers aren't a subset of one or the other; they have a good proportion from both groups. Taking off 12 years is the maximum effect assuming there isn't a single trucker that has a college degree, which of course isn't true.

shawn 8y ago

It's offensive to claim that you know what's better for someone than the person living the life. Humans Need Not Apply is an interesting perspective on some of these issues. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU

dntrkv 8y ago

> The life expectancy of a trucker is 16 years shorter than the norm Where did you get this figure? Searching it for it turns up sources that discredit the claim.

ergothus 8y ago

> Why are you so eager to protect jobs that are measurably killing the people who work them? uh...I'm not. Don't know where you got the idea that I was. Rather, I'd like to spend this lead up time before that industry is heavily hit to try and make sure the hit isn't so negative. Skill training programs, driver involvement in determining how the (future) devices would best work, etc. Make this a semi-planned obsolescence instead of a long-expected "surprise".

a3n 8y ago

> For my own part, I'd rather have a million former truckers who need retraining and new skillsets than a million dead truckers. I think figuring out how to deal with displaced categories of workers is a tougher problem than automated vehicles. In any discussion like this, when I hear "retraining," I think of some county workforce office teaching you how to use Microsoft Word and Excel, giving you a certificate, giving you access to their jobs database, and forgetting about you.

alexgmcm 8y ago
Well there was the GI Bill that helped veterans retrain after WW2 in proper careers at real universities etc. But that's a lot more expensive (although maybe less expensive in the long run than having a load of unproductive citizens)

astebbin 8y ago

It’s also life-shortening to suddenly and unexpectedly lost your job, especially when you’re over 40 and “retraining” isn’t really an option, or when all the other jobs have been automated away.

imtringued 8y ago

>Do you value these jobs so much that you're willing to pay for them in human lives? I don't really get what you're trying to say. Every hour I'm working at any job reduces my lifespan by one hour. The entire idea of work is that I'm paying with my own human life to obtain something else. If the truck drivers get a new job they will still have to pay with their own life.