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> They require an army of engineers to build/operate/maintain them. Yep agreed, but there's a key difference. Unlike most other jobs, your labor continues to p
by jordwest 5y ago
> They require an army of engineers to build/operate/maintain them.
Yep agreed, but there's a key difference. Unlike most other jobs, your labor continues to provide the company profits even after you leave. I think that's why software engineers are typically paid a lot and are often paid with a stock option component.
> Inequality is a political problem. I'd rather we tackled that for what it is: bring on the fully automated luxury communism and free us from our mindless toil that can be trivially performed by mindless robots. We have nothing to lose but our drudgery.
I think we could already do this. Obviously many workers would still be required, but they could be much more fairly compensated. Someone else mentioned Graeber's Bullshit Jobs, we're already inventing jobs just to keep people busy and spending. As Adam Curtis said[1], "your real job is shopping".
[1] https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1414301661936421 https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1414301661936421
- mullingitover 5y ago> Unlike most other jobs, your labor continues to provide the company profits even after you leave. That's certainly the engineer's sales pitch, but let me introduce you to the engineer's fine print, tech debt.
- Talanes 5y ago> Unlike most other jobs, your labor continues to provide the company profits even after you leave. Maybe in terms of pure job function, but anyone who's ever solved a problem at their job in a way that is still used when they leave has continued to provide the company profits.