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Automation certainly doesn’t hollow out the “economy” but it certainly can contribute to wealth inequality by reducing the number of employed humans required to

Automation certainly doesn’t hollow out the “economy” but it certainly can contribute to wealth inequality by reducing the number of employed humans required to generate value. At the extreme it could permanently upend the concept of full employment in the economy.

robertlagrant 6y ago
But that's a bit of a simple perspective. Not so long ago, a third of the population of Europe were farmers. Do you think that farming automation concentrated all the wealth in the remaining farmers' hands, leaving nothing for anyone else? Or did the resulting plummet in food costs allow us to figure out other jobs that added previously inconceivable value in other areas?
- sjwright 6y ago
  It's a fallacy to assume that the consequences of future automation is going to be just like past automation. There's no reason to assume that there will be new jobs to replace old jobs next time. Because this time it's going to descend on us a lot faster. This is not a "simple" perspective, and if I'm permitted to be equally offensive, I suggest yours is a naive perspective. After all, this is already beginning to play out in our economies today. It used to be that being successful meant that you owned the most successful store in your town, and maybe also the three other closest towns. Now, success is judged on a national or even international level. Success is achieved by fewer people at bigger scales. Success then looked like Wal-Mart. And now it looks like Amazon. Success used to look like a dozen taxi medallions in NYC. Now it looks like Uber. Do you really think that the "American Dream" will withstand a large fraction of truck drivers, taxi drivers, manufacturing line workers and clerical workers being made forcefully unemployed? You're not seriously suggesting that the answer is to teach truck drivers to code?
Haunted_Cabbage 6y ago
There were more humans hired to perform simple calculations prior to the calculator, but we don't see people saying we should get rid of the calculator.
- benibela 6y ago
  A calculator cannot write a novel or learn to do a new task There is a fundamental difference between an AGI that can perform any human task and a tool that can only do one task. So far there has always been something only humans can do, so they get hired. But when the true AGI can do anything, humans are obsolete.

robertlagrant 6y ago

But that's a bit of a simple perspective. Not so long ago, a third of the population of Europe were farmers. Do you think that farming automation concentrated all the wealth in the remaining farmers' hands, leaving nothing for anyone else? Or did the resulting plummet in food costs allow us to figure out other jobs that added previously inconceivable value in other areas?

sjwright 6y ago
It's a fallacy to assume that the consequences of future automation is going to be just like past automation. There's no reason to assume that there will be new jobs to replace old jobs next time. Because this time it's going to descend on us a lot faster. This is not a "simple" perspective, and if I'm permitted to be equally offensive, I suggest yours is a naive perspective. After all, this is already beginning to play out in our economies today. It used to be that being successful meant that you owned the most successful store in your town, and maybe also the three other closest towns. Now, success is judged on a national or even international level. Success is achieved by fewer people at bigger scales. Success then looked like Wal-Mart. And now it looks like Amazon. Success used to look like a dozen taxi medallions in NYC. Now it looks like Uber. Do you really think that the "American Dream" will withstand a large fraction of truck drivers, taxi drivers, manufacturing line workers and clerical workers being made forcefully unemployed? You're not seriously suggesting that the answer is to teach truck drivers to code?

Haunted_Cabbage 6y ago

There were more humans hired to perform simple calculations prior to the calculator, but we don't see people saying we should get rid of the calculator.

benibela 6y ago
A calculator cannot write a novel or learn to do a new task There is a fundamental difference between an AGI that can perform any human task and a tool that can only do one task. So far there has always been something only humans can do, so they get hired. But when the true AGI can do anything, humans are obsolete.