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When the farming jobs left, the unskilled could get manufacturing jobs. When they left, they got service industry jobs. What happens when they leave? What will

by saturn 15y ago

When the farming jobs left, the unskilled could get manufacturing jobs. When they left, they got service industry jobs. What happens when they leave? What will the millions upon millions of basically unskilled labourers do then? I am tempted to say "personal servants for the rich" and I am only half joking. As you say, history repeats itself.

InclinedPlane 15y ago
You keep using that word "unskilled", I do not think it means what you think it means. Whether it's farm work, factory work, or service industry work it's disingenuous to call it "unskilled". It requires a different genre of skills than office work, typically, but there are nevertheless many levels of skill and substantial differences in work quality and productivity depending on experience levels. A lot of the jobs you have put into the "unskilled" bag have extensive formal education programs, for example. On a more personal note, I find this commonplace bigotry against the working class to be appalling and indicative of limited and closed minds. The idea that there is this huge labor pool of second class citizens, gammas or such-like, that is barely above the level of trained chimp, and their skills are so minor it's just a matter of time before the smarties of the world replace them with superior robotics, is disgusting. It is a fantasy. And worse it's a very derogatory and prejudicial fantasy.
- nasmorn 15y ago
  Have you ever worked such a job? Stocking shelves or serving drinks is an unskilled job. Maybe the people doing them now would be capable of doing more complicated things but there are plenty of jobs that can be done by a trained chimp. Training chimps is really really expensive but robotics will change that. I agree with you though that given the right incentives most people can learn new skills. I don't think they are inherently stupid at all, the mindless routine of their work just naturally limits them intellectually.
  - jjmaxwell4 15y ago
    Right. People will adapt given the right incentives, just as textile workers did when the weave was invented.

by saturn 15y ago

InclinedPlane 15y ago

You keep using that word "unskilled", I do not think it means what you think it means. Whether it's farm work, factory work, or service industry work it's disingenuous to call it "unskilled". It requires a different genre of skills than office work, typically, but there are nevertheless many levels of skill and substantial differences in work quality and productivity depending on experience levels. A lot of the jobs you have put into the "unskilled" bag have extensive formal education programs, for example. On a more personal note, I find this commonplace bigotry against the working class to be appalling and indicative of limited and closed minds. The idea that there is this huge labor pool of second class citizens, gammas or such-like, that is barely above the level of trained chimp, and their skills are so minor it's just a matter of time before the smarties of the world replace them with superior robotics, is disgusting. It is a fantasy. And worse it's a very derogatory and prejudicial fantasy.

nasmorn 15y ago
Have you ever worked such a job? Stocking shelves or serving drinks is an unskilled job. Maybe the people doing them now would be capable of doing more complicated things but there are plenty of jobs that can be done by a trained chimp. Training chimps is really really expensive but robotics will change that. I agree with you though that given the right incentives most people can learn new skills. I don't think they are inherently stupid at all, the mindless routine of their work just naturally limits them intellectually.
- jjmaxwell4 15y ago
  Right. People will adapt given the right incentives, just as textile workers did when the weave was invented.