3 ms·
Seems fairly straightforward to predict, since this has happened dozens of times before as technology marched on: with no more business for them, they'll go ban
by WJW 5y ago
Seems fairly straightforward to predict, since this has happened dozens of times before as technology marched on: with no more business for them, they'll go bankrupt and the workers will eventually be assimilated into other professions. Maybe there will be a small remaining industry tending to hobbyists, similar to how horse shoeing and buggy whip manufacturing are very much a niche professions these days.
- falcolas 5y agoHave we had one of these "industry extinctions" in the last quarter century, particularly one at the scale of the meat industry? Our economy and workplaces are significantly different from what they were when horses were replaced by cars.
- jkelleyrtp 5y agoManufacturing and textiles, though they might have happened slightly more than 25 years ago.
- akiselev 5y ago> Our economy and workplaces are significantly different from what they were when horses were replaced by cars. The 21st century isn't special and we weren't born a quarter century ago. The economy and our workplaces will continue to evolve, as they have since the beginning of time.
- Jeff_Brown 5y agoThe 20th century may have been special. In a hundred years we went from riding horses to landing on the moon. If the 21st century is to advance on a similarly breathtaking scale we'll need some astounding changes -- immortality, say, or true AI.
- akiselev 5y agoAbout 27% of the world still works in agriculture, as of 2019 - the vast majority as subsistence farmers - down from 44% of the world as of 1990 [1]. That's over 200 million people that just began the transition from pre-industrial agriculture to a modern market based economy. Modern technology is so unevenly distributed that over two billion people are still fed without the benefit of industrialized farming. I think you're vastly underestimating how much work there is left to do. [1] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoWell, down from 80% farmers in the Middle Ages. So we've come a long way.
- Jeff_Brown 5y agoYou're right. I was thinking about the technological frontier. In terms of improving the average or the floor, rather than the ceiling, we've got our work cut out.
- extrapickles 5y agoConsumer film cameras are extinct as they have been replaced by digital. They are only carried by specialty stores now as people only use it as a hobby.
- MontyCarloHall 5y agoThe fraction of the population employed in agriculture has continued to decline precipitously over the last few decades as automation technology improves, continuing the trend that began with the industrial revolution. https://ourworldindata.org/employment-in-agriculture https://ourworldindata.org/employment-in-agriculture