4 ms·

> We’ve had photographs for a long time, and people still do representational art of real places and things; we have superior industrial mass production and peo

> We’ve had photographs for a long time, and people still do representational art of real places and things; we have superior industrial mass production and people do inferior handicrafts, etc.; we’ve tested your theory extensively and its false. Their theory is only technically false. Yes, people still do those things. But how common is it that anyone who isn't independently wealthy actually lives a comfortable life doing that for a living? Practically speaking, no one makes a living doing art or being an artisan of one kind or another. It feels very much lately like the next decade will see huge swaths of knowledge work made obsolete. And it will feel really self-serving when the people at the helm of that trend tell everyone who's been displaced by it that they just need to adapt or start a technology company like they did.

swatcoder 4y ago
> But how common is it that anyone who isn't independently wealthy actually lives a comfortable life doing that for a living? Practically speaking, no one makes a living doing art or being an artisan of one kind or another. What?? This is the kind of comment happens when we no longer have yellow pages and business cards and bored kids with nothing to do but stare at them. I assure you that there are in fact many people making a satisfying and secure living taking photographs and making things. I’m honestly floored by your comment.
dragonwriter 4y ago
> But how common is it that anyone who isn’t independently wealthy actually lives a comfortable life doing that for a living? Practically speaking, no one makes a living doing art or being an artisan of one kind or another. If you reread the post you are responding to you might note that I mentioned how, while people will freely choose to do those type of “obsolete” crafts, economic forces tend to limit their practical freedom to do so, so that the problem to deal with isn’t automation but distributional economics. Not that any but a small number of people are “comfortable” as artists even in non-obsolete arts; there tends to be an oversupply of people wanting to do them compared to demand, resulting in a narrow slice of success and a lot of people either struggling or only marginally attached to the art field. So, even outside of marginalization due to technical progress, distributional issues are the constraint.

swatcoder 4y ago

> But how common is it that anyone who isn't independently wealthy actually lives a comfortable life doing that for a living? Practically speaking, no one makes a living doing art or being an artisan of one kind or another. What?? This is the kind of comment happens when we no longer have yellow pages and business cards and bored kids with nothing to do but stare at them. I assure you that there are in fact many people making a satisfying and secure living taking photographs and making things. I’m honestly floored by your comment.

dragonwriter 4y ago

> But how common is it that anyone who isn’t independently wealthy actually lives a comfortable life doing that for a living? Practically speaking, no one makes a living doing art or being an artisan of one kind or another. If you reread the post you are responding to you might note that I mentioned how, while people will freely choose to do those type of “obsolete” crafts, economic forces tend to limit their practical freedom to do so, so that the problem to deal with isn’t automation but distributional economics. Not that any but a small number of people are “comfortable” as artists even in non-obsolete arts; there tends to be an oversupply of people wanting to do them compared to demand, resulting in a narrow slice of success and a lot of people either struggling or only marginally attached to the art field. So, even outside of marginalization due to technical progress, distributional issues are the constraint.