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The problem as I see it (and I've probably said this before) is that not all jobs are equal... or rather that not all people are equal. Increasing technology do

by hugh3 15y ago

The problem as I see it (and I've probably said this before) is that not all jobs are equal... or rather that not all people are equal. Increasing technology doesn't take away jobs, it increases the amount of wealth you can create with the same amount of labour, at least up to a certain point. But it also makes the jobs that do exist harder (intellectually speaking), because as the jobs switch from "assembly line worker" to "guy who supervises the robots that work on the assembly line" the brainpower needed to do the job increases. Roughly half the population has two-digit IQs, half the population has three-digit IQs. Two thousand years ago, 90% of all jobs were in the fields and could easily be done with a two-digit IQ. A hundred years ago, jobs had started to shift to the cities, but probably still 75% of 'em could be done with a two-digit IQ. Nowadays I'm worried that we're reaching the point where 60% of the jobs which actually and economically exist require a three-digit IQ to be done properly, and that this will only continue to increase as the easy jobs get automated away. What, then, do we do with the world's stupid people?

Detrus 15y ago
Mine them for data after making them share as much about their life as possible. More seriously, those three-digit IQ jobs will turn to two-digit IQ jobs as technology makes them easier. There's a predictable cycle for technological progress, until a certain point at least.
kiba 15y ago
People are also more intelligent simply because their environment becomes more complex. Remember, the average level of IQ back then would be considered retarded today.
hackinthebochs 15y ago
>it increases the amount of wealth you can create with the same amount of labour, The end result of this is that there are fewer jobs. There is a certain amount of "production" (for lack of a better word) needed to maintain the same quality of life. As production becomes more efficient, it takes less and less labor for the same output. This inevitably reduces the amount of jobs available. Knowledge work can't fill the gap, partially because most people just aren't capable, and partially because it takes an order of magnitude fewer knowledge workers than manual laborers for a given amount of output. >What, then, do we do with the world's stupid people? The answer is that we're going to have to change our attitudes towards "redistribution of wealth" for society not to fall apart.
rubiety 15y ago
I think what you're trying to say is that technological progress brings highly increasing returns to intelligence such that one person has the capability to produce an extremely high amount of value relative to their peers (increase in income inequality, perhaps). And I agree, this is most likely the case. But inequality as a side-effect is something that can be dealt with via relatively inefficient policies that do not distort too heavily the division of labor as it exists. In other words, we should let this grand increase in efficiency happen, but correct perhaps for inequality resulting therefrom in a relatively efficient way as we need too. Far too many people use the inequality argument to prove too much (that we should attempt to slow specialization of flat-ouf efficiency at its source), and this argument is deeply flawed IMO. In other words, don't shoot the messenger. Intelligent people are creating enormous amounts of value, but their income/price is just a messenger of this information.

by hugh3 15y ago

Detrus 15y ago

Mine them for data after making them share as much about their life as possible. More seriously, those three-digit IQ jobs will turn to two-digit IQ jobs as technology makes them easier. There's a predictable cycle for technological progress, until a certain point at least.

kiba 15y ago

People are also more intelligent simply because their environment becomes more complex. Remember, the average level of IQ back then would be considered retarded today.

hackinthebochs 15y ago

>it increases the amount of wealth you can create with the same amount of labour, The end result of this is that there are fewer jobs. There is a certain amount of "production" (for lack of a better word) needed to maintain the same quality of life. As production becomes more efficient, it takes less and less labor for the same output. This inevitably reduces the amount of jobs available. Knowledge work can't fill the gap, partially because most people just aren't capable, and partially because it takes an order of magnitude fewer knowledge workers than manual laborers for a given amount of output. >What, then, do we do with the world's stupid people? The answer is that we're going to have to change our attitudes towards "redistribution of wealth" for society not to fall apart.

rubiety 15y ago

I think what you're trying to say is that technological progress brings highly increasing returns to intelligence such that one person has the capability to produce an extremely high amount of value relative to their peers (increase in income inequality, perhaps). And I agree, this is most likely the case. But inequality as a side-effect is something that can be dealt with via relatively inefficient policies that do not distort too heavily the division of labor as it exists. In other words, we should let this grand increase in efficiency happen, but correct perhaps for inequality resulting therefrom in a relatively efficient way as we need too. Far too many people use the inequality argument to prove too much (that we should attempt to slow specialization of flat-ouf efficiency at its source), and this argument is deeply flawed IMO. In other words, don't shoot the messenger. Intelligent people are creating enormous amounts of value, but their income/price is just a messenger of this information.