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I'm afraid that this might sound flippant, but the answer to your question comes through another question - why were early 19th century industrialists obsessed

I'm afraid that this might sound flippant, but the answer to your question comes through another question - why were early 19th century industrialists obsessed with replacing textile workers? Replacing workers with machines is not a new phenomenon and we have gone through countless waves of social upheaval as a result of it. The debate we're currently having about AI has been rehearsed many, many times and there are few truly novel points being made. If you want to understand our current moment, I would urge you to study that history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Riots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_Riots

noncoml 1y ago
Programers are going to be replaced by AI in the same way accountants got replaced by VisiCalc and engineers by CAD and mathematicians by calculators and software like Mathematica
- cheschire 1y ago
  You mean the part where you only need 5 people doing the job instead of 50?
  - Legend2440 1y ago
    And yet there are more engineers and accountants employed than ever.
    - cheschire 1y ago
      And yet not keeping pace with the overall population increase of America. There’s also more companies than ever before.
  - noncoml 1y ago
    That’s not “replacing” programmers. More like increasing their productivity
- olddustytrail 1y ago
  > mathematicians by calculators Calculators didn't replace mathematicians, they replaced Computers (as an occupation). To the point that most people don't even know it used to be a job for people. I say calculators but there is a blurry line between early electronic computers and calculators. Portable electronic calculators also replaced the slide rule, around the late 1970s, which had been the instrument of choice for engineers for around 350 years!
  - noncoml 1y ago
    > Calculators didn't replace mathematicians, they replaced Computers Imho you are underestimating the work of programmers if you compare them to “Computers”
    - olddustytrail 1y ago
      I didn't mention programmers at all in my comment. In fact the first programmers were mainly women because they came from a Computer background.
detourdog 1y ago
We could produce more cloth in safer working conditions.
- blibble 1y ago
  there was nothing safe about those early machines the AI parallel is quite apt actually

noncoml 1y ago

Programers are going to be replaced by AI in the same way accountants got replaced by VisiCalc and engineers by CAD and mathematicians by calculators and software like Mathematica

cheschire 1y ago
You mean the part where you only need 5 people doing the job instead of 50?
- Legend2440 1y ago
  And yet there are more engineers and accountants employed than ever.
  - cheschire 1y ago
    And yet not keeping pace with the overall population increase of America. There’s also more companies than ever before.
- noncoml 1y ago
  That’s not “replacing” programmers. More like increasing their productivity
olddustytrail 1y ago
> mathematicians by calculators Calculators didn't replace mathematicians, they replaced Computers (as an occupation). To the point that most people don't even know it used to be a job for people. I say calculators but there is a blurry line between early electronic computers and calculators. Portable electronic calculators also replaced the slide rule, around the late 1970s, which had been the instrument of choice for engineers for around 350 years!
- noncoml 1y ago
  > Calculators didn't replace mathematicians, they replaced Computers Imho you are underestimating the work of programmers if you compare them to “Computers”
  - olddustytrail 1y ago
    I didn't mention programmers at all in my comment. In fact the first programmers were mainly women because they came from a Computer background.

detourdog 1y ago

We could produce more cloth in safer working conditions.

blibble 1y ago
there was nothing safe about those early machines the AI parallel is quite apt actually