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The average height of Englishmen actually went down during the industrial revolution (presumably) due to malnutrition. New histories of the period think of it
by kranke155 4y ago
The average height of Englishmen actually went down during the industrial revolution (presumably) due to malnutrition.
New histories of the period think of it as potentially as one of the few times we know where there was an enormous economic boom alongside a general collapse of quality of life.
Ir could be we are looking at something similar at the moment with the digital revolution.
Yes eventually we all retrain and the effect will be nil, but in the in-between time, a lot of people might suffer immensely.
- robertlagrant 4y agoI used that giant example a bit comically, perhaps. We're not talking about rapidly retraining a huge, illiterate, agriculture-focused workforce, with utterly game-changing technology. We're talking about things that can be eased into, by white collar workers. And the numbers affected are nothing like the industrial revolution's either.
- kranke155 4y agoIm not sure for how long that will hold up if we end up automating all vehicle driving, image generation and robotising large parts of our workforce.
- robertlagrant 4y agoDriving is certainly a more significant workforce than image generation, but that seems to be a completely separate area of research.
- kranke155 4y agoCertainly. What I mean is - I didn’t expect image generative AI to get good this quickly. Before DallE I didn’t expect it to happen at all - I had no idea it was possible until it happened and I was forced to face it. Driving seems like a tough nut to crack, but what if we suddenly start obliterating multiple areas of human employment one after the other? Ones we haven’t even thought of?