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I wonder how much of this is caused by income inequality. There are some young people I talk to that are genuinely worried about whether AI will take all the jo

I wonder how much of this is caused by income inequality. There are some young people I talk to that are genuinely worried about whether AI will take all the jobs. But there are a lot more that rightfully realize that they probably can't afford the middle class life their parents had and are annoyed at all the money AI is hoovering up and how rich these CEOs are. And that's the surface level. There's all sorts of resentment that hasn't really been thought through and wouldn't exist if we had the sort of real growth in lower- and middle-class incomes that we used to.

cucumber3732842 2mo ago
It's not the inequality. It's the lack of hope for a better future. Nobody cares how rich the richest people are when their lives are getting better.
mvlipwig 2mo ago
I'm skeptical of the income inequality hypothesis as the US Gini has been mostly stagnant for 20 years (as per https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SIPOVGINIUSA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SIPOVGINIUSA). I'd imagine that (social|) media has a fairly large impact on this phenomenon as it makes inequality more visible than before.
- kj4211cash 2mo ago
  You're probably right about (social) media being a factor but overindexing on Gini. Here's a chart that shows dramatically rising wealth gaps in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States#/media/File:1962-_Net_personal_wealth_-_average_in_percentile_ranges_-_linear_scale_-_US.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_Unite... If I got this right Gini measures inequality in either income or spending but as Piketty showed we have crazy rising inequality in capital / wealth.
  - red-iron-pine 2mo ago
    been happening since the 80s mate, and everyone knows it
throwaway27448 2mo ago
These are not topics easily separated. The rich are anxious to find returns; the rest of us are anxious about furthering a wealth gap and societal dysfunction further. "AI" might as well be synonymous with both concerns.
deleted 2mo ago
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cucumber3732842 2mo ago

It's not the inequality. It's the lack of hope for a better future. Nobody cares how rich the richest people are when their lives are getting better.

mvlipwig 2mo ago

I'm skeptical of the income inequality hypothesis as the US Gini has been mostly stagnant for 20 years (as per https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SIPOVGINIUSA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SIPOVGINIUSA). I'd imagine that (social|) media has a fairly large impact on this phenomenon as it makes inequality more visible than before.

kj4211cash 2mo ago
You're probably right about (social) media being a factor but overindexing on Gini. Here's a chart that shows dramatically rising wealth gaps in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States#/media/File:1962-_Net_personal_wealth_-_average_in_percentile_ranges_-_linear_scale_-_US.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_Unite... If I got this right Gini measures inequality in either income or spending but as Piketty showed we have crazy rising inequality in capital / wealth.
- red-iron-pine 2mo ago
  been happening since the 80s mate, and everyone knows it

throwaway27448 2mo ago

These are not topics easily separated. The rich are anxious to find returns; the rest of us are anxious about furthering a wealth gap and societal dysfunction further. "AI" might as well be synonymous with both concerns.

deleted 2mo ago

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