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Why? Because people can do something more meaningful with their lives if they are are currently doing something that can replaced by a robot. (There will be oth
by netfire 11y ago
Why? Because people can do something more meaningful with their lives if they are are currently doing something that can replaced by a robot. (There will be other jobs that are created to fill the replaced jobs). Arguing that we should not innovate and progress as a society because it will take away jobs is like arguing that we shouldn't have toilets because it will create less jobs for sanitation workers.
I don't think your notion of transferring wealth from workers to the owners of capital holds much weight in the context of a sharing economy either. It seems to me that a sharing economy is simply a more decentralized way of doing business, in which individuals are leasing their property or providing their services more directly to consumers than before. A centralized economy still provides wealth from workers to the owners of capital (rental car companies, hotels, taxi medallions, etc), perhaps more so than a sharing economy does.
- beatpanda 11y agoRight, but can people actually do anything more meaningful? I work in software not because I like it but because the things I actually like to do, like playing music, writing, or cooking, will never enable me to have a financial safety net. I would be no more "able" to do these things if my job disappeared tomorrow than I am today. What people are more able to "do something more meaningful" because their jobs no longer exist thanks to automation? I basically agree with you, that automation could be profoundly empowering. But right now it isn't, unless you happen to control the automation technology.
- jsprogrammer 11y agoI think this is the right track. Shared control is probably a requisite to avoid some of the bleaker possibilities.
- netfire 11y agoThe question would be, what comes next after these jobs are automated. I think that's largely unknown. You could have made the same argument before the industrial revolution, or massive improvements in communications and the internet, but I think we've been better off as a result. of those improvements. People have much better access to information/education and have a wider platform for free speech, as well as being able to live longer. Hopefully you find writing software more meaningful and enjoyable than the much harder labor jobs that was more common 100 years ago. It could be that an automation revolution, could better enable you to better financially support yourself in those things that you really like to do, and that are harder to automate, since those may become much more valuable in a more automated economy. (Just as music, writing and cooking are arguably more financially viable occupations for more people today than it was 100 years ago)
- jsprogrammer 11y ago> (There will be other jobs that are created to fill the replaced jobs). Maybe. The newly created jobs don't necessarily appear immediately or provide a smooth transition for the displaced worker though. This can cause a lot of disruption in peoples' lives and may be a huge inefficiency of the system as a whole. A challenge would be to figure out how to eliminate the disruption caused, while still 'innovating' and 'progressing'.