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That is called progress. Ever hear of the Industrial Revolution? There will always be jobs. AI won't be able to do everything, we are far off from that world.

That is called progress. Ever hear of the Industrial Revolution? There will always be jobs. AI won't be able to do everything, we are far off from that world. Think about it, it's the year 2019 and we can't even invent a robot to separate plastic bags from normal trash.

johnday 7y ago
> There will always be jobs. Yes, but there will be fewer jobs. That's a problem. The industrial revolution removed a large number of jobs (basic manufacturing skills) and created a load more (advanced manufacturing skills / logistics / etc.). There is no expectation or even hope of a new class of jobs coming out of the high-power automation that we are liable to see in the next couple of decades.
- muzz 7y ago
  Fewer jobs in that area. Jobs will be created elsewhere because human wants are endless.
  - chillacy 7y ago
    Last wave of automation took out millions of manufacturing workers. Instead of retraining to become software engineers they largely went on disability and then as a cohort started dying of drug overdoses and suicides at higher than normal rates. Most of the new jobs created in the past 10 years are temporary / gig jobs without benefits, nothing like the manufacturing jobs lost. So, great opportunities for some, but many will suffer.
    - burntoutfire 7y ago
      Just as a side note, but I wouldn't in any way idealize the manufacturing jobs that were lost. A lot of them were so horrible that the new hires quit in the first day (often just not coming back from a break). I'd probably prefer to be an Uber driver than to work in a car factory.
HenryBemis 7y ago
No I disagree. This is not "progress", this is "technological progress". We need to make sure that we don't leave older people behind, and we don't pull the rug from under our childrens feet. Of course we should not stop technological progress, but we all (big businesses, governments, everyone) need to think and plan ahead on what will happen to the people. I believe that there is a statistic that 1/2 or 1/3 of USA citizens have at some point worked on Macdonald's. I remember a piece of news about a robot burger flipper and discussion here on HN a few months back, and people were writing how working on Macdonald's paid for college or what have you. Eliminating fast food jobs is depriving important resources from the youth. Who will be paying for that? We cannot just move forward and leave the people behind. Capitalism should try to care for more than jist the few.
- toephu2 7y ago
  > Eliminating fast food jobs is depriving important resources from the youth. Who will be paying for that? So we should stop all innovation so youth can work at McDonalds to pay for college? You said no we shouldn't stop progress, then what is your solution? Continue to innovate, people will find a way to make things work. Don't stop innovation because you want to provide low paying jobs for people.
  - HenryBemis 7y ago
    I do state that we should never halt technological progress. All I was saying is that while progress moves forward, we (as a species) should ensure that we don't just consider the shareholder value of decreasing Payroll costs, but we should also consider that the hell will happen to those thousands/millions. This is not a threat, this is the reality. If we take the food from the table, and exclude them from retraining etc, then at some point they will go hungry and will seek food that is in other tables. This is already happening to a small degree in some countries. Let's make sure it won't happen to a higher degree and in more countries.
    - toephu2 7y ago
      > Let's make sure it won't happen to a higher degree and in more countries. how?
pippy 7y ago
The difference is that automation is now targeting skilled, social, and technical work. Traditionally they've been aspirational fields of work due to their resilience. Limiting capacity to enter these fields is only going accelerate the destruction of the middle class.
wonderwonder 7y ago
Nope, never heard of it. Source?
Razengan 7y ago
> we can't even invent a robot to separate plastic bags from normal trash. I'm sure "we" can, but nobody (who could) sees it as a potential profit-making product that they could sell.

johnday 7y ago

> There will always be jobs. Yes, but there will be fewer jobs. That's a problem. The industrial revolution removed a large number of jobs (basic manufacturing skills) and created a load more (advanced manufacturing skills / logistics / etc.). There is no expectation or even hope of a new class of jobs coming out of the high-power automation that we are liable to see in the next couple of decades.

muzz 7y ago
Fewer jobs in that area. Jobs will be created elsewhere because human wants are endless.
- chillacy 7y ago
  Last wave of automation took out millions of manufacturing workers. Instead of retraining to become software engineers they largely went on disability and then as a cohort started dying of drug overdoses and suicides at higher than normal rates. Most of the new jobs created in the past 10 years are temporary / gig jobs without benefits, nothing like the manufacturing jobs lost. So, great opportunities for some, but many will suffer.
  - burntoutfire 7y ago
    Just as a side note, but I wouldn't in any way idealize the manufacturing jobs that were lost. A lot of them were so horrible that the new hires quit in the first day (often just not coming back from a break). I'd probably prefer to be an Uber driver than to work in a car factory.

HenryBemis 7y ago

No I disagree. This is not "progress", this is "technological progress". We need to make sure that we don't leave older people behind, and we don't pull the rug from under our childrens feet. Of course we should not stop technological progress, but we all (big businesses, governments, everyone) need to think and plan ahead on what will happen to the people. I believe that there is a statistic that 1/2 or 1/3 of USA citizens have at some point worked on Macdonald's. I remember a piece of news about a robot burger flipper and discussion here on HN a few months back, and people were writing how working on Macdonald's paid for college or what have you. Eliminating fast food jobs is depriving important resources from the youth. Who will be paying for that? We cannot just move forward and leave the people behind. Capitalism should try to care for more than jist the few.

toephu2 7y ago
> Eliminating fast food jobs is depriving important resources from the youth. Who will be paying for that? So we should stop all innovation so youth can work at McDonalds to pay for college? You said no we shouldn't stop progress, then what is your solution? Continue to innovate, people will find a way to make things work. Don't stop innovation because you want to provide low paying jobs for people.
- HenryBemis 7y ago
  I do state that we should never halt technological progress. All I was saying is that while progress moves forward, we (as a species) should ensure that we don't just consider the shareholder value of decreasing Payroll costs, but we should also consider that the hell will happen to those thousands/millions. This is not a threat, this is the reality. If we take the food from the table, and exclude them from retraining etc, then at some point they will go hungry and will seek food that is in other tables. This is already happening to a small degree in some countries. Let's make sure it won't happen to a higher degree and in more countries.
  - toephu2 7y ago
    > Let's make sure it won't happen to a higher degree and in more countries. how?

pippy 7y ago

The difference is that automation is now targeting skilled, social, and technical work. Traditionally they've been aspirational fields of work due to their resilience. Limiting capacity to enter these fields is only going accelerate the destruction of the middle class.

wonderwonder 7y ago

Nope, never heard of it. Source?

Razengan 7y ago

> we can't even invent a robot to separate plastic bags from normal trash. I'm sure "we" can, but nobody (who could) sees it as a potential profit-making product that they could sell.