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Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

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Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#51

Post by [deleted] »

andriesm wrote: post #8
magic_beans wrote: post #2

Are we assuming a magic source of income? If yes: I'd take up writing, teaching and practicing yoga, and charcoal drawing. If no: I'd probably have to be some kind of nanny or domestic help. :/

I think everyone "assumes" basic income grants, when the robots make say upwards of 50 percent of people redundant. I myself remain sceptical. If you low-medium skilled you should be able to find work from the people made richer by the robots, as butlers, assistants, etc... Yes even with the best robot, some people will prefer human contact. Some people may even pay a premium for companionship.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#53

Post by sigi45 »

I'm guessing that when i'm no longer able to find a job (i'm a software engineer) our society found some solution for all of us.

Might be a little bit selfish but i do think that when i as a person with my knowledge and capabilities is no longer needed and we have still a well working economy, i'm not the only one without a job.

If the spread is to big between 'average middle class people living an acceptable life with an acceptable lifestyle' vs. 'not' our society will put that much pressure on everyone above middle class that they have to do something. Who wants to live in a country as a rich person when you have a lot of desperate people who want something from you?

Yes i do know that in usa or in south africa they have big fences but i would act and not accept the new side of the fence.

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#54

Post by tinym »

shshhdhs wrote: post #22
jcadam wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking more along the lines of "Turn to a life of crime." But your solution also has merit.

Suicide and crime have merit? I fail to see the ethical upside of any of those besides short-term gains.

You've seen their merits, then - now think about when they would be worth taking...

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#55

Post by EnFinlay »

J-dawg wrote: post #52

As a man, learn to accept a life of celibacy. Sadly, women's tendency to evaluate men by their occupation is not going to change as quickly as the jobs market. (This is admittedly a dystopian view, but I believe it's possible.)

This sort of sentiment is sexist, demeaning, and false.

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#56

Post by RileyKyeden »

IanDrake wrote: post #49
remyp wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. If we're post-scarcity then my customers would be like the Ten Forward customers on the Enterprise and I'd get to wear a sweet hat like Whoopi. If not, then I assume they'd be like I am now: someone lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the current status of the labor marketplace. As for the robot bartender, I'd imagine myself working in a hipster bar that still uses human bartenders because it's s…

I literally made a scene laughing at this while sitting in a hipster cafe complete with Edison light bulbs.

How many lights are there?

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#57

Post by abathur »

inlineint wrote: post #36

With condition of being suppled by resources for living I think it's a good idea to go into research. It's a bit unrelated, but I think that maybe instead of just introducing basic income to suppress social tensions caused by bots taking jobs it would be better to spend the money to create new research jobs at large scale. There are plenty underexplored directions in science and research in lots of them can't be auto…

AFAIK most UBI advocates aren't looking to just throw money at people and tell them they don't need to work. It's not called a Universal Comfortable Income, or a Universal Middle Class Income.

Unless you're a devout ascetic or minimalist, you'll probably still want other sources of income. The UBI provides you a baseline that can make it easier for people to spend a while retraining, or resist being underpaid for miserable/dangerous work. One of the big potential boons of a UBI is that it could be paired with a rollback of minimum wage/benefit requirements, shifting the point at which automation is strongly incentivized.

In such an environment, meaningful research projects with significant low-skill components should have an easy time (at least relative to today) staffing up.

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#58

Post by mooseburger »

IanDrake wrote: post #44

This story has been playing out for a long time now. The plowshare, the printing press, textile mills, cars, etc... The plowshare replaced a team of people doing the work by hand. What happened to those people when the plowing "robot" took their job? I bet it was hard times for them, but you can't avoid the fact that we're all better off for it. So, since we know what happened in history and can't see into the future…

If you're a horse, and the car was just invented, what do you do? That is the question.

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#59

Post by J-dawg »

EnFinlay wrote: post #55
J-dawg wrote: post #52

As a man, learn to accept a life of celibacy. Sadly, women's tendency to evaluate men by their occupation is not going to change as quickly as the jobs market. (This is admittedly a dystopian view, but I believe it's possible.)

This sort of sentiment is sexist, demeaning, and false.

The thing is, it's already starting to happen in a small way. A quick search will find you several articles like this:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/nov/10/dating-...

Of course, there absolutely are plenty of single men out there, it's just that they are invisible to the women quoted in the article, because they're not in the correct socioeconomic group.

I am simply saying that this trend is likely to continue. It's neither sexist nor demeaning to say that.

Re: Ask HN: If the bots take your job, what would you do?

#60

Post by jcadam »

shshhdhs wrote: post #22
jcadam wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking more along the lines of "Turn to a life of crime." But your solution also has merit.

Suicide and crime have merit? I fail to see the ethical upside of any of those besides short-term gains.

Well, I meant that in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. But then again, when one is watching their children go hungry, the list of things one is willing to do for money/food expands a bit.
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