8 ms·

And all those middle age workers will, what? Just be retrained? Who's paying for that? What happens when the retraining fails (as it so often does) because you

And all those middle age workers will, what? Just be retrained? Who's paying for that? What happens when the retraining fails (as it so often does) because you can't magically turn a truck driver into a software engineer? I don't think any of the comments here are anti-progress. But we do need a social and political plan to handle the automation of a large number of low skill jobs. Failure to plan for this future will result in large numbers of displaced and disaffected people.

EugeneOZ 7y ago
> And all those middle age workers will, what? They will be fired, yes. This cruel world, where people should care about competitiveness of their skills. It starts right after the school.
- theflyinghorse 7y ago
  > It starts right after the school. I'd argue that the competition start before the child is even born in the modern world. Wealth of one's family, their connections play a major role in the success of the child (admission scandals come to mind)
  - EugeneOZ 7y ago
    I wrote about skills competition, not competition between persons. In our cruel world it's absolutely possible to get new skills, and you don't even need huge money to get skills you could sell later. > Wealth of one's family, their connections play a major role in the success of the child And it's perfectly fine. Somebody's parents were working hard or smart and created some legacy - it is absolutely, 100% fine that their offsprings have some advantage - it was the goal of their parents' life.
- nepeckman 7y ago
  Let's set empathy aside for a moment (which you seem to lack). This just isn't a practical approach. What do you think those people will do after being fired? Kindly die so you don't have to deal with them anymore? No, they will riot. And when that fails, they will turn to theft and crime in order to feed themselves and their family. We will pay one way or another for these economic hardships, in property damage, increased crime, increased prison costs, and overall worse standard of living throughout the developed world.
  - EugeneOZ 7y ago
    > What do you think those people will do after being fired? > they will turn to theft and crime in order to feed themselves and their family If they prefer this rather than learning new skills/professions - nothing can help them. "Give us the money for free or we will take your money by force to feed our families" - times of naive pirates are gone. > (which you seem to lack) 0 empathy to communists/socialists and other people who just want to feed lazy blackmailers you described. Young people starting their way in life (first job), old people who can't work anymore - only groups of people I'm ready to give some money to support them. I have enough empathy for them.

EugeneOZ 7y ago

> And all those middle age workers will, what? They will be fired, yes. This cruel world, where people should care about competitiveness of their skills. It starts right after the school.

theflyinghorse 7y ago
> It starts right after the school. I'd argue that the competition start before the child is even born in the modern world. Wealth of one's family, their connections play a major role in the success of the child (admission scandals come to mind)
- EugeneOZ 7y ago
  I wrote about skills competition, not competition between persons. In our cruel world it's absolutely possible to get new skills, and you don't even need huge money to get skills you could sell later. > Wealth of one's family, their connections play a major role in the success of the child And it's perfectly fine. Somebody's parents were working hard or smart and created some legacy - it is absolutely, 100% fine that their offsprings have some advantage - it was the goal of their parents' life.
nepeckman 7y ago
Let's set empathy aside for a moment (which you seem to lack). This just isn't a practical approach. What do you think those people will do after being fired? Kindly die so you don't have to deal with them anymore? No, they will riot. And when that fails, they will turn to theft and crime in order to feed themselves and their family. We will pay one way or another for these economic hardships, in property damage, increased crime, increased prison costs, and overall worse standard of living throughout the developed world.
- EugeneOZ 7y ago
  > What do you think those people will do after being fired? > they will turn to theft and crime in order to feed themselves and their family If they prefer this rather than learning new skills/professions - nothing can help them. "Give us the money for free or we will take your money by force to feed our families" - times of naive pirates are gone. > (which you seem to lack) 0 empathy to communists/socialists and other people who just want to feed lazy blackmailers you described. Young people starting their way in life (first job), old people who can't work anymore - only groups of people I'm ready to give some money to support them. I have enough empathy for them.