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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

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?
malandrew 7y ago
> We need to make sure that we don't leave older people behind old people can now summon rides on their phone and be out and about instead of being home-bound. > and we don't pull the rug from under our childrens feet Everything we build, our children will inherit. It will be their responsibility to improve upon what we leave them. It's not like older people end up taking these technological improvements with them to their grave. There are more jobs than just fast food. People did jobs that weren't fast food before McDonald's existed and people will do jobs that aren't fast food once McDonald's is fully automated. Right now, on the Internet, you can learn so many things for free. The necessity to learn a skill that pays the bills will drive people to learn skills that can be used to provide goods and services others are willing to pay for. All that is necessary is to open your eyes and look around and see what people are willing to pay for.
- anigbrowl 7y ago
  Old people with enough money can do that. You have clearly never experienced poverty.
  - HenryBemis 7y ago
    Thank you for this commeny. Also, old people are not necessarily only use-less consumers. Giving them Uber is nice, but if they can and want to offer/produce it would be a waste to put them in the sidelines just because they can't use the latest technology.
  - malandrew 7y ago
    When I moved to the SF Bay Area in 2011, I spent ~8 months living on about $32 a day for all living costs including housing. That's under the US poverty line and well below the SF Bay Area poverty line. I bought rice, beans and other dry goods in bulk and had my daily meal costs averaged around $2 a day. People need to learn to budget better. http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-live-on-7000-per-year.html http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-live-on-7000-per-yea...
    - anigbrowl 7y ago

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?

malandrew 7y ago

> We need to make sure that we don't leave older people behind old people can now summon rides on their phone and be out and about instead of being home-bound. > and we don't pull the rug from under our childrens feet Everything we build, our children will inherit. It will be their responsibility to improve upon what we leave them. It's not like older people end up taking these technological improvements with them to their grave. There are more jobs than just fast food. People did jobs that weren't fast food before McDonald's existed and people will do jobs that aren't fast food once McDonald's is fully automated. Right now, on the Internet, you can learn so many things for free. The necessity to learn a skill that pays the bills will drive people to learn skills that can be used to provide goods and services others are willing to pay for. All that is necessary is to open your eyes and look around and see what people are willing to pay for.

anigbrowl 7y ago
Old people with enough money can do that. You have clearly never experienced poverty.
- HenryBemis 7y ago
  Thank you for this commeny. Also, old people are not necessarily only use-less consumers. Giving them Uber is nice, but if they can and want to offer/produce it would be a waste to put them in the sidelines just because they can't use the latest technology.
- malandrew 7y ago
  When I moved to the SF Bay Area in 2011, I spent ~8 months living on about $32 a day for all living costs including housing. That's under the US poverty line and well below the SF Bay Area poverty line. I bought rice, beans and other dry goods in bulk and had my daily meal costs averaged around $2 a day. People need to learn to budget better. http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-live-on-7000-per-year.html http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-live-on-7000-per-yea...
  - anigbrowl 7y ago