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We get ever closer to software replacing humans in a vast array of jobs, people scream and shout about how we need to solve the problem of all those humans with

by ok_dad 2y ago

We get ever closer to software replacing humans in a vast array of jobs, people scream and shout about how we need to solve the problem of all those humans with no jobs, yet all I see is the inextricable march to obsolescence for many people, myself included. I’ll add my shout: What’s going to happen to the obsolete humans?

QuadmasterXLII 2y ago
We ended up deciding, against all seeming reason, to just stop after nuking each other twice. Perhaps our presidents and dictators can get on the phone and reach a similar agreement. I would quite like them to.
interstice 2y ago
The line is that there will always be something to do. But I’m not sure that’s true, ultimately each human only has a limited number of needs - once those are met what’s the utility in having any excess capacity? And what are the chances that we are getting close to that capacity already but the production is so inefficient that only some tiny percentage goes to any one persons actual needs
OkayPhysicist 2y ago
Liberation from toil ought to be a good thing, but frankly it's looking more and more like the worst jobs will be the last to go.
hinkley 2y ago
There's one scenario where we expand the idea of citizenship to something more like each adult human owns 1/nth of the country, we claw back mineral rights and companies then have to rent the air, the water, the soil, the minerals, and each citizen is entitled to a share of those proceeds of businesses consuming them. What they often leave out when talking about how Scandinavia has good social systems is the fact that they have vast mineral wealth that is subsidizing all of these services. That health care is being paid for substantially with oil profits. Which if oil extraction weren't our quickest route to destructive levels of global warming would be awesome. Instead it's kind of mixed. The tricky bit is finding the maturity to not vote for accelerating extraction now and fucking over your grandchildren in the process. The US doesn't have that - yet - but I'd argue that Scandinavian countries also need a closer examination vis-a-vis the Paris accords.
- naming_the_user 2y ago
  The Scandinavian countries also have a population size that they can support more easily. The US is massive, right? 45 people per sq km. Sweden is at 28. Finland 18. Norway? 15.
RGamma 2y ago
> What’s going to happen to the obsolete humans? Hoping for them (might include myself soon) to organize. Otherwise the market will do its thing and consecutively oversaturate the scraps that are gonna be left with brutal competition.

by ok_dad 2y ago

QuadmasterXLII 2y ago

We ended up deciding, against all seeming reason, to just stop after nuking each other twice. Perhaps our presidents and dictators can get on the phone and reach a similar agreement. I would quite like them to.

interstice 2y ago

The line is that there will always be something to do. But I’m not sure that’s true, ultimately each human only has a limited number of needs - once those are met what’s the utility in having any excess capacity? And what are the chances that we are getting close to that capacity already but the production is so inefficient that only some tiny percentage goes to any one persons actual needs

OkayPhysicist 2y ago

Liberation from toil ought to be a good thing, but frankly it's looking more and more like the worst jobs will be the last to go.

hinkley 2y ago

There's one scenario where we expand the idea of citizenship to something more like each adult human owns 1/nth of the country, we claw back mineral rights and companies then have to rent the air, the water, the soil, the minerals, and each citizen is entitled to a share of those proceeds of businesses consuming them. What they often leave out when talking about how Scandinavia has good social systems is the fact that they have vast mineral wealth that is subsidizing all of these services. That health care is being paid for substantially with oil profits. Which if oil extraction weren't our quickest route to destructive levels of global warming would be awesome. Instead it's kind of mixed. The tricky bit is finding the maturity to not vote for accelerating extraction now and fucking over your grandchildren in the process. The US doesn't have that - yet - but I'd argue that Scandinavian countries also need a closer examination vis-a-vis the Paris accords.

naming_the_user 2y ago
The Scandinavian countries also have a population size that they can support more easily. The US is massive, right? 45 people per sq km. Sweden is at 28. Finland 18. Norway? 15.

RGamma 2y ago

> What’s going to happen to the obsolete humans? Hoping for them (might include myself soon) to organize. Otherwise the market will do its thing and consecutively oversaturate the scraps that are gonna be left with brutal competition.