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Looking around here in Amsterdam, there is a lot of work to be done. And all the places that aren’t as nice, there is a LOT of work to be done. Computational i

Looking around here in Amsterdam, there is a lot of work to be done. And all the places that aren’t as nice, there is a LOT of work to be done. Computational irreducibility combined with human insatiability combined with ethics entails: a lot of work to be done. Everyone needs to get to work, we aren’t done yet. If robots could do all the work… well, god bless. There is SO much work to do. That makes me think the issue is not “robots taking jobs” but the focus and intention of the collective. Any new hire is WAY more valuable now that they can use chatGPT. So why aren’t we hiring more people? Well, one small issue: notice how you get taxed for hiring people a lot more than buying tech? That’s probably something to be fixed.

sterlind 4y ago
how much of that work requires physical labor? when I think of the work to be done, I think of like, building roads and houses and factories, transitioning to renewable energy, staffing hospitals with doctors and nurses, picking up trash on the street, cleaning up oceans, research in biology and pharmacology. I don't really think of filing paperwork, or writing code, or meetings in general. It's the stuff that requires arms and legs and fingers that's our bottleneck. ChatGPT can't help with that. Robots can, but RL is lagging.
- dr_dshiv 4y ago
  > building roads and houses and factories, transitioning to renewable energy, staffing hospitals with doctors and nurses, picking up trash on the street, cleaning up oceans, research in biology and pharmacology All that takes knowledge work. Physical too, but most of the cost today is knowledge work.
  - pcthrowaway 4y ago
    Exactly. A future where humans are the drones while big AI does all the thought work is the inverse of the techno-futuristic dreams of the 80s-00s
shswkna 4y ago
I wonder why not more people are seeing it from this angle. My tech company is in southern africa, and I struggle to find the talent to fit my customers / the market’s needs. We can’t compete with salaries in the US or western countries in general. Now, my average tech staff can actually solve challenging coding problems that before could only be done by the few talented ones. It does not solve all shortcomings, but it definitely shifts the collective cognitive load in the company.
- foobiekr 4y ago
  If the talent at hand isn’t competent to build it, they aren’t competent to debug or support it.
- carlosjobim 4y ago
  Why do you say you can't compete with Western salaries? If your customers don't want to pay what it takes, why the hell would it be your potential employees' responsibility to reduce their salary so you can offer this bargain? And since you are in tech, you can sell to the whole world. If your business can't get enough profit to pay for your workers, then the company should shut down the business as a failure.

sterlind 4y ago

how much of that work requires physical labor? when I think of the work to be done, I think of like, building roads and houses and factories, transitioning to renewable energy, staffing hospitals with doctors and nurses, picking up trash on the street, cleaning up oceans, research in biology and pharmacology. I don't really think of filing paperwork, or writing code, or meetings in general. It's the stuff that requires arms and legs and fingers that's our bottleneck. ChatGPT can't help with that. Robots can, but RL is lagging.

dr_dshiv 4y ago
> building roads and houses and factories, transitioning to renewable energy, staffing hospitals with doctors and nurses, picking up trash on the street, cleaning up oceans, research in biology and pharmacology All that takes knowledge work. Physical too, but most of the cost today is knowledge work.
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  Exactly. A future where humans are the drones while big AI does all the thought work is the inverse of the techno-futuristic dreams of the 80s-00s

shswkna 4y ago

I wonder why not more people are seeing it from this angle. My tech company is in southern africa, and I struggle to find the talent to fit my customers / the market’s needs. We can’t compete with salaries in the US or western countries in general. Now, my average tech staff can actually solve challenging coding problems that before could only be done by the few talented ones. It does not solve all shortcomings, but it definitely shifts the collective cognitive load in the company.

foobiekr 4y ago
If the talent at hand isn’t competent to build it, they aren’t competent to debug or support it.
carlosjobim 4y ago
Why do you say you can't compete with Western salaries? If your customers don't want to pay what it takes, why the hell would it be your potential employees' responsibility to reduce their salary so you can offer this bargain? And since you are in tech, you can sell to the whole world. If your business can't get enough profit to pay for your workers, then the company should shut down the business as a failure.