20 ms·

Are people really 2.5x more productive? Or are machines more productive, making average value generated by labor increase?

jxf 4y ago
Those are the same thing, because operating the machines means you need new skills, and therefore should expect labor wages to rise. For example, 15th-century peasant can't use a computer at the level of a teenager playing Minecraft. So clearly it's not just the machines; it's the people. And as the chart shows, the people are getting a raw deal.
dbg31415 4y ago
People are more productive... Look at what people had to do in the 70s and 80s... You'd spend all your time doing math to fill out a spreadsheet, cutting and gluing construction paper to make a presentation, or re-typing a document to change a sentence. That's not the machine doing the work, it's just the machines making it easier for us to do the work. But the end result is an expectation to produce more better quality work faster than our parents or grandparents had to. My grandparents had a summer house, they took 7-kid family vacations, and they disconnected from co-workers when they left the building... And that's what "upper middle class" in America used to look like 40 years ago. And they had unions, and pension plans. When my grandfather retired, his pension was 80% of his pay for life. Plus what he had saved up for retirement. Anyway yes, I think we're a lot more productive.
- PenguinCoder 4y ago
  A lot more productive and a lot less to show for it.
adrr 4y ago
Technology has made us more productive. Here’s an example. We only have two people in AP because we have software that monitors our AP email address and ingests invoices and sends it to the appropriate people for approval. Back in the day, people would open physical mail, and send it through corporate “mail” system for physical signatures.

20 ms·

Are people really 2.5x more productive? Or are machines more productive, making average value generated by labor increase?

by Vt71fcAqt7 4y ago

jxf 4y ago
Those are the same thing, because operating the machines means you need new skills, and therefore should expect labor wages to rise. For example, 15th-century peasant can't use a computer at the level of a teenager playing Minecraft. So clearly it's not just the machines; it's the people. And as the chart shows, the people are getting a raw deal.
dbg31415 4y ago
People are more productive... Look at what people had to do in the 70s and 80s... You'd spend all your time doing math to fill out a spreadsheet, cutting and gluing construction paper to make a presentation, or re-typing a document to change a sentence. That's not the machine doing the work, it's just the machines making it easier for us to do the work. But the end result is an expectation to produce more better quality work faster than our parents or grandparents had to. My grandparents had a summer house, they took 7-kid family vacations, and they disconnected from co-workers when they left the building... And that's what "upper middle class" in America used to look like 40 years ago. And they had unions, and pension plans. When my grandfather retired, his pension was 80% of his pay for life. Plus what he had saved up for retirement. Anyway yes, I think we're a lot more productive.
- PenguinCoder 4y ago
  A lot more productive and a lot less to show for it.
adrr 4y ago
Technology has made us more productive. Here’s an example. We only have two people in AP because we have software that monitors our AP email address and ingests invoices and sends it to the appropriate people for approval. Back in the day, people would open physical mail, and send it through corporate “mail” system for physical signatures.