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That's true, but he's also talking about the kind of skilled labor that robots don't, and probably won't, do for a very long time: handy man, around-the-house k
by montagg 15y ago
That's true, but he's also talking about the kind of skilled labor that robots don't, and probably won't, do for a very long time: handy man, around-the-house kind of work.
I just had a guy come over today and fix my sink. I was sitting down editing in another room the whole time. It brought home that difference between "higher education" and "vocation" pretty strongly.
I always try to ask what to do so he doesn't have to come over in the future, but this one was particularly gross. But, really, I should have learned how to deal with gross clogged sinks in high school, so I wouldn't be squeamish about it now. It's our responsibility to learn this stuff, because this stuff, and the people who work on it, is really makes society tick. (Google a great Long Now talk, "World Without Us," to see how the only people keeping nature from retaking everything are maintenance guys.)
- pragmatic 15y agoYou don't know how to unclog a sink? Seriously? Where have all the hackers gone? I code during the day, fix my jeep when it breaks, fix my lawnmower, remodeled my basement, take apart kids toys, etc, etc. You should give it a try. Don't be afraid to make mistakes (you will) and you can always call in a guy to fix it if your really break something. Trying is learning. And, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing how things work in your home.
- _delirium 15y agoSince I've been an adult, I've never lived anywhere I'm really allowed to do anything home-repair-ish, because the apartment complexes I've lived in prefer to pay a professional to do maintenance, rather than take the chance that one of their tenants will break things. So my rental agreements have all had clauses explicitly banning me from even taking apart the sink. I suppose I could learn if I bought a house, but that takes a lot of money!
- ams6110 15y agoIf you can afford to rent a decent place you can afford a small house. Just need to get the down payment, which is a matter of discipline to save it up.
- _delirium 15y agoThat's not really the case in the Bay Area... I was renting a decent apt for $1k/mo, but a small fixer-upper house was $500k, which was way out of the range of what I could get a mortgage for.
- samlevine 15y agoI live in Seattle. In the area where I live it would take over 30 years of rent to pay for the cost of a condo, and that condo would be bigger and newer (and therefore more costly) than the tiny studio I live in. Everyone has options, I just happen to like living close to where I work (and therfore not need a car). If that means that I can't paint the walls without asking my landlord I'm ok with that.
- pragmatic 15y agoYes, I've been in that situation and it really sucks. You can't modify your living environment. You can't just string cat6 and wire up your place. I think this speaks somewhat to the principles of Christopher Alexander http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander Paraphrase: Humans should be able to modify their living/working space. There is nothing quite like building something real. Programming is cool and I love it, but building something real (and that other people can use), modifying your environment and customizing your space is just so damn satisfying.
- kerryfalk 15y agoMy lease agreements say that, too... but I'm too impatient to wait for the landlord. Things need fixin'!