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You have very very heavy lifting to do if you're trying to prove a productivity improvement leads to a worse outcome. Farming automation and the green revoluti

You have very very heavy lifting to do if you're trying to prove a productivity improvement leads to a worse outcome. Farming automation and the green revolution didn't make us all unemployed - it meant 90% of us could do something else instead of farming. We used the productivity to just invent new forms of work that weren't possible and aren't possible in a lower productivity economy.

pjc50 3y ago
Outcome for whom, though? We can use fancy words like "Pareto" or we can argue that it doesn't matter if a productivity improvement gives a billionaire more toys if everyone else is experiencing smaller houses and a worse public environment.
- nonethewiser 3y ago
  > Outcome for whom, though? Everyone who is not a slave, serf, or subsistence farmer
- AnimalMuppet 3y ago
  One thing we're not experiencing is smaller houses. Compare now to the 1950s or the 1920s or the 1890s. Productivity improvements have not led to smaller houses. Empirically proven.
nonethewiser 3y ago
> Farming automation and the green revolution didn't make us all unemployed - it meant 90% of us could do something else instead of farming. There was actually a lot of fear that there would be mass starvation and competition for food because food production could not match population increase. It was an existential threat, much like how we look at global warming. And that fear today? Gone, and most people never even knew it existed.
afavour 3y ago
“Technology will free us from a life of drudgery!” has been the promise for what, over a hundred years now? We all sit around at our leisure while robots prepare our dinner. What actually happened in agriculture is that technology enabled massive conglomerates to dominate the industry. I see few guarantees that technological progress is going to free me up to do something else that enriches my life.
- MoreSEMI 3y ago
  “ The spoils of technology went straight to the top while workers switched to new jobs that pay horribly.” I have a hard time believing you believe that most people switched to a worse paying job. Did peoples material quality of life improve or not?
- HDThoreaun 3y ago
  Technology has already freed me from a life of drudgery.
mc32 3y ago
One has to consider the impact on dynamism. It may not matter to many but it would be something management would have to consider before entering into new areas for development. I think unionization would impact expansion and research areas —the big bets where now if something doesn’t work the company either reorganizes the team or lets go of a team. With a union companies would operate more conservatively. That would perhaps provide stable jobs for current job holders but limit growth for prospective job holders.

pjc50 3y ago

Outcome for whom, though? We can use fancy words like "Pareto" or we can argue that it doesn't matter if a productivity improvement gives a billionaire more toys if everyone else is experiencing smaller houses and a worse public environment.

nonethewiser 3y ago
> Outcome for whom, though? Everyone who is not a slave, serf, or subsistence farmer
AnimalMuppet 3y ago
One thing we're not experiencing is smaller houses. Compare now to the 1950s or the 1920s or the 1890s. Productivity improvements have not led to smaller houses. Empirically proven.

nonethewiser 3y ago

> Farming automation and the green revolution didn't make us all unemployed - it meant 90% of us could do something else instead of farming. There was actually a lot of fear that there would be mass starvation and competition for food because food production could not match population increase. It was an existential threat, much like how we look at global warming. And that fear today? Gone, and most people never even knew it existed.

afavour 3y ago

“Technology will free us from a life of drudgery!” has been the promise for what, over a hundred years now? We all sit around at our leisure while robots prepare our dinner. What actually happened in agriculture is that technology enabled massive conglomerates to dominate the industry. I see few guarantees that technological progress is going to free me up to do something else that enriches my life.

MoreSEMI 3y ago
“ The spoils of technology went straight to the top while workers switched to new jobs that pay horribly.” I have a hard time believing you believe that most people switched to a worse paying job. Did peoples material quality of life improve or not?
HDThoreaun 3y ago
Technology has already freed me from a life of drudgery.

mc32 3y ago

One has to consider the impact on dynamism. It may not matter to many but it would be something management would have to consider before entering into new areas for development. I think unionization would impact expansion and research areas —the big bets where now if something doesn’t work the company either reorganizes the team or lets go of a team. With a union companies would operate more conservatively. That would perhaps provide stable jobs for current job holders but limit growth for prospective job holders.