4 ms·

Think of it a bit differently. Think of production being so efficient and labor free that producing goods and services is extremely cheap and in turn produces

Think of it a bit differently. Think of production being so efficient and labor free that producing goods and services is extremely cheap and in turn produces abundance. Theres a reason why Jamie Dimon is saying people will be working 3 days per week in a generation because of AI. And its why in capitalistic and technology forward societies the poor are generally better off than every generation prior.

SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
Didn't people say that about personal computers as well? Compared to a few generations ago we have everything in cheap abundance but we're still working 5+ days a week.
- trident5000 3y ago
  Maybe the work week hasnt shrunk yet, but the amount of goods and services available at an affordable price to the average joe is way up.
  - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
    The work week hasn't shrunk at all, and many goods and services are cheaper but housing isn't and many people live paycheck to paycheck. I have my reservations that THIS revolution will be the one that solves our problems. A jump in technology is simply a way for those with the means to get more out of those without. AI isn't an equalizer, compute seems like it'll be the new valuable resource and you can buy that with cash.
    - SoftTalker 3y ago
      Many people have always lived paycheck to paycheck. Maybe part of it is that people are bidding up rents because everything else is relatively cheap?
    - aa1234556 3y ago
      [dead]
  - gumballindie 3y ago
    Yes but pay has gone down in real terms and people afford less of what’s important - owning a home, raising a family. We do indeed have more of the stuff we dont need, or want.
- piva00 3y ago
  > Modern technic has made it possible to diminish enormously the amount of labor necessary to produce the necessaries of life for every one. ... > Suppose that at a given moment a certain number of people are engaged in the manufacture of pins. They make as many pins as the world needs, working (say) eight hours a day. Someone makes an invention by which the same number of men can make twice as many pins as before. But the world does not need twice as many pins: pins are already so cheap that hardly any more will be bought at a lower price. In a sensible world everybody concerned in the manufacture of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight, and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. ... > If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day there would be enough for everybody, and no unemployment — assuming a certain very moderate amount of sensible organization. This idea shocks the well-to-do, because they are convinced that the poor would not know how to use so much leisure. In America men often work long hours even when they are already well-off; such men, naturally, are indignant at the idea of leisure for wage-earners except as the grim punishment of unemployment, in fact, they dislike leisure even for their sons. Bertrand Russell was already talking about how the eight hours workday was a wasteful bullshit in 1932.
  - thelastparadise 3y ago
    > This idea shocks the well-to-do The well-to-do also need to have an underclass to distinguish themselves from, otherwise they become common. To them, becoming common is one of the worst things that could happen.
SoftTalker 3y ago
I could see this happening ... in a generation. We're a long way off and tech changes quickly but the large physical plant investments in producing real products is slower. It will be some time before AI and robots are good enough to replace a lot of the labor that humans do, but I see no inherent reason that it won't happen. Right now the main thing AI is good at is quickly generating bullshit, so those are the jobs that are going to be first to be replaced.

SketchySeaBeast 3y ago

Didn't people say that about personal computers as well? Compared to a few generations ago we have everything in cheap abundance but we're still working 5+ days a week.

trident5000 3y ago
Maybe the work week hasnt shrunk yet, but the amount of goods and services available at an affordable price to the average joe is way up.
- SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
  The work week hasn't shrunk at all, and many goods and services are cheaper but housing isn't and many people live paycheck to paycheck. I have my reservations that THIS revolution will be the one that solves our problems. A jump in technology is simply a way for those with the means to get more out of those without. AI isn't an equalizer, compute seems like it'll be the new valuable resource and you can buy that with cash.
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    Many people have always lived paycheck to paycheck. Maybe part of it is that people are bidding up rents because everything else is relatively cheap?
  - aa1234556 3y ago
    [dead]
- gumballindie 3y ago
  Yes but pay has gone down in real terms and people afford less of what’s important - owning a home, raising a family. We do indeed have more of the stuff we dont need, or want.
piva00 3y ago
> Modern technic has made it possible to diminish enormously the amount of labor necessary to produce the necessaries of life for every one. ... > Suppose that at a given moment a certain number of people are engaged in the manufacture of pins. They make as many pins as the world needs, working (say) eight hours a day. Someone makes an invention by which the same number of men can make twice as many pins as before. But the world does not need twice as many pins: pins are already so cheap that hardly any more will be bought at a lower price. In a sensible world everybody concerned in the manufacture of pins would take to working four hours instead of eight, and everything else would go on as before. But in the actual world this would be thought demoralizing. The men still work eight hours, there are too many pins, some employers go bankrupt, and half the men previously concerned in making pins are thrown out of work. ... > If the ordinary wage-earner worked four hours a day there would be enough for everybody, and no unemployment — assuming a certain very moderate amount of sensible organization. This idea shocks the well-to-do, because they are convinced that the poor would not know how to use so much leisure. In America men often work long hours even when they are already well-off; such men, naturally, are indignant at the idea of leisure for wage-earners except as the grim punishment of unemployment, in fact, they dislike leisure even for their sons. Bertrand Russell was already talking about how the eight hours workday was a wasteful bullshit in 1932.
- thelastparadise 3y ago
  > This idea shocks the well-to-do The well-to-do also need to have an underclass to distinguish themselves from, otherwise they become common. To them, becoming common is one of the worst things that could happen.

SoftTalker 3y ago

I could see this happening ... in a generation. We're a long way off and tech changes quickly but the large physical plant investments in producing real products is slower. It will be some time before AI and robots are good enough to replace a lot of the labor that humans do, but I see no inherent reason that it won't happen. Right now the main thing AI is good at is quickly generating bullshit, so those are the jobs that are going to be first to be replaced.