3 ms·

when people talk of automation they mean replacement, not just better tools, for that has been happening since the beginning of time

Retric 6y ago
When 9 people can do the work of 10, the 10th person often finds themselves out of a job. It’s little different if your job type completely disappears or if the economy only needs half as many people doing your job, either way many people need a new type of job.
- pydry 6y ago
  That's what the media has been screaming all these years. The reality is often that the 10th person has their role change, they retire off or (as in the case of the engraving industry), people end up buying more at a cheaper price.
  - Retric 6y ago
    Someone having their role change sounds fine, but it often means a skill and thus a longer term salary reset. Individually people may be better or worse off, but generally if you have 20+ years of experience doing something starting over is a major setback. Granted for very slow transitions it’s not as big of a deal.
    - pydry 6y ago
      The one situation where I remember this happening specifically (when the BBC made footage archiving digital), they planned the automation rollout to coincide with retiring off the old analog librarians. Then they hired them back out of retirement because the project went badly wrong. The latter part went awry (although I think they didn't mind too much) but the timing kind of worked out. In a more vicious corporation they probably wouldn't have been so bothered about the timing of the rollout.
usrusr 6y ago
Right. How many people would Google actually require to keep employed to keep their current business running, with capacity to serve the entire ad market of humanity? That's the level of automation we are dealing with, not some machine that prints more phonebooks per man-hour.

3 ms·

when people talk of automation they mean replacement, not just better tools, for that has been happening since the beginning of time

by buboard 6y ago

Retric 6y ago
When 9 people can do the work of 10, the 10th person often finds themselves out of a job. It’s little different if your job type completely disappears or if the economy only needs half as many people doing your job, either way many people need a new type of job.
- pydry 6y ago
  That's what the media has been screaming all these years. The reality is often that the 10th person has their role change, they retire off or (as in the case of the engraving industry), people end up buying more at a cheaper price.
  - Retric 6y ago
    Someone having their role change sounds fine, but it often means a skill and thus a longer term salary reset. Individually people may be better or worse off, but generally if you have 20+ years of experience doing something starting over is a major setback. Granted for very slow transitions it’s not as big of a deal.
    - pydry 6y ago
      The one situation where I remember this happening specifically (when the BBC made footage archiving digital), they planned the automation rollout to coincide with retiring off the old analog librarians. Then they hired them back out of retirement because the project went badly wrong. The latter part went awry (although I think they didn't mind too much) but the timing kind of worked out. In a more vicious corporation they probably wouldn't have been so bothered about the timing of the rollout.
usrusr 6y ago
Right. How many people would Google actually require to keep employed to keep their current business running, with capacity to serve the entire ad market of humanity? That's the level of automation we are dealing with, not some machine that prints more phonebooks per man-hour.