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I think it's unfair to ask a technology startup to answer a public policy question. Economic forces will drive automation of these sorts of tasks one way or ano
by scoopertrooper 6y ago
I think it's unfair to ask a technology startup to answer a public policy question. Economic forces will drive automation of these sorts of tasks one way or another, which will shift income away from labour and towards capital.
It's up to governments to ensure the winners compensate the losers. In the long term, this may be an UBI, but for now it should take the form of retraining and economic adjustment packages (similar to what might occur when tariffs are repealed). This should be funded by a super-profits tax on heavily automated industries.
- azinman2 6y agoWe all are responsible for our actions on the world. The government doesn’t set policy that says pilots should be automated, and I wouldn’t necessarily assume this is inevitable at all. Government can only be reactionary, and these things are happening without a larger societal conversation that says yes we want this. So I do believe this is a fair question to ask. It would be unethical to not consider ones actions.
- zamadatix 6y agoOne must also consider the ethics of wasting human life and skill on something that can be efficiently automated while other tasks lie undone. Either way I agree with the parent comment, this is a public policy question about how to make sure people are able to maintain lucrative lives (education policy, monetary policy, social policy) not a question for the business making an existing task more efficient and expecting them to answer what society wants to do with the freed time.