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Ask HN: What will everyone do if everything is automated?

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Re: Ask HN: What will everyone do if everything is automated?

#11

Post by helsontaveras18 »

stev-0 wrote: post #6

There is no “everything is automated”. “Everything is automated” is similar to “finished software”. It just doesn’t happen. Besides that there are many services you want to purchase where interaction with the other is part of the value of said service. Think of going to a barber or a nice restaurant. Think about education, designers. There is also artisanal products. People pay a pretty penny for a teapot made by a m…

Could the rise of AGI mean software no longer has to be written by humans? Sure it won't be finished. But we wouldn't need to be the ones to work on it anymore.

Re: Ask HN: What will everyone do if everything is automated?

#13

Post by giantg2 »

adversaryIdiot wrote: post #5

get a chance to enjoy life not burdened by capitalistic chains hopefully.

This brought up an interesting question. Without work, people who have worked would likely treasure that freedom and not abuse it. But would people who have never worked understand the constraints of resources and not abuse the system?

This might be worded too absolutely, but I'm sure there are some abusers in any group. Or perhaps our stereotypes of rich kids are completely unfounded?

Re: Ask HN: What will everyone do if everything is automated?

#14

Post by mFixman »

We've had automatic coffee machines since the 1950s, and yet Starbucks employs over 300k people.

Everything being possibly automated doesn't mean everything will be automated. There is always value in human work, even if we are objectively worse at working than robots and AI.

Re: Ask HN: What will everyone do if everything is automated?

#16

Post by wvoch235 »

helsontaveras18 wrote: post #11
stev-0 wrote: post #6

There is no “everything is automated”. “Everything is automated” is similar to “finished software”. It just doesn’t happen. Besides that there are many services you want to purchase where interaction with the other is part of the value of said service. Think of going to a barber or a nice restaurant. Think about education, designers. There is also artisanal products. People pay a pretty penny for a teapot made by a m…

Could the rise of AGI mean software no longer has to be written by humans? Sure it won't be finished. But we wouldn't need to be the ones to work on it anymore.

Yes, and once this happens it significantly lowers the cost of automation in general, which then will continue to drive exponential acceleration. It will take time to get there but I believe it to be a lot closer than most believe.

Re: Ask HN: What will everyone do if everything is automated?

#17

Post by solarmist »

Completely ignoring all the other thoughts and comments. And working from first principles.

The human brain is a problem-solving machine; one that is somewhat optimized for connecting with other people (I say somewhat because the social parts are still a very new addition).

If AI could do all labor and creative activities at levels far beyond human levels, then we'd still do many of them to try and understand how they do it. We'd also invent new problems to solve and new ways of interacting with labor and creativity.

It's like asking what rich people do all day. They find stuff to do or make it up. Sometimes that's productive, and sometimes it's destructive. Or another similar thing would be the pursuits of landed gentlemen in the 1700 and 1800s, which invented many of the fields we call science.

Re: Ask HN: What will everyone do if everything is automated?

#18

Post by rl3 »

gus_massa wrote: post #3

Including military? Just hide inside the underground bunkers like in Terminator.

>... Just hide inside the underground bunkers like in Terminator.

I should probably learn how to cook rat ahead of time so by the time the machine apocalypse arrives I'm able to command the respect of a five-star chef.

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