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Likewise jobs like computer programming seem pretty 'robot-proof'. Depends on how you look at it. I see programming as the single most automation-friendly job

Likewise jobs like computer programming seem pretty 'robot-proof'. Depends on how you look at it. I see programming as the single most automation-friendly job there is. Even if all you do is add a few lines to your Makefile to run the test suite when you type 'make test', you're still automating a repetitive task you'd otherwise do by hand. Looking at the bigger picture: programmers are constantly developing new programming languages, libraries, text editor plugins, build tools, deployment tools, continuous integration servers, SCM tools... These things are all designed to save programmers time and if we are successful it means we're increasing our productivity, which should mean we don't need to hire more programmers to do the same job otherwise. Maybe the last point seems hard to accept in light of the fact that there are more working programmers than ever. Just try to imagine what it would be like to build an app like Uber if you still had to write code on punch cards and batch-feed them into a giant single-tasking computer.

brobdingnagians 7y ago
I think there is a similar thing with electricity production, having a fusion generator would give "huge amounts of electricity" until someone thought of a use for all that electricity. There's always something bigger you can find that is limited by current amounts of resources.
- chongli 7y ago
  Another good one is roads. The old way of thinking was straightforward: "we've got too much traffic, let's build more roads!" Now we realize that building more roads encourages more people to drive. There seems to be practically unlimited demand for roads.
perl4ever 7y ago
Programming is automation, and that's why it's a job that can't be eliminated by automation. Every line of code ever written is literally automating something. Yet no programmer ever worries "will this be the line of code that puts me out of work?"

brobdingnagians 7y ago

I think there is a similar thing with electricity production, having a fusion generator would give "huge amounts of electricity" until someone thought of a use for all that electricity. There's always something bigger you can find that is limited by current amounts of resources.

chongli 7y ago
Another good one is roads. The old way of thinking was straightforward: "we've got too much traffic, let's build more roads!" Now we realize that building more roads encourages more people to drive. There seems to be practically unlimited demand for roads.

perl4ever 7y ago

Programming is automation, and that's why it's a job that can't be eliminated by automation. Every line of code ever written is literally automating something. Yet no programmer ever worries "will this be the line of code that puts me out of work?"