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Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

nytimes.com

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Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#31

Post by throwaway1777 »

deanCommie wrote: post #19

There is an infamous anecdote from the turn/mid of the 20th century: People believed that innovations in vacuum cleaners, washing machines, etc would cause people to have more leisure time because of how much time it saved in cleaning. But it didn't happen. Why? Because people's expectations for hygiene and cleanliness went up. And as it became easier to clean houses and clothes, people were more comfortable with hav…

except it did save a lot of time. Have you ever tried to wash clothes by hand? Increased standard of living counts in terms of increased productivity.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#32

Post by bombcar »

uejfiweun wrote: post #2

I have a hard time believing this thesis that modern technology doesn't help productivity. Think about CRM software. Could you imagine having to go through hundreds of filing cabinets and massive systems just to get information about a customer? What about 100 SDRs doing this at the same time, every day? How about trying to meet with someone on the other side of the country? Or having to hire hundreds of assembly lin…

A massive CRM was possible in the early 90s on easily obtainable hardware. Earlier if you wanted to spend the money.

It’s not immediately clear what Salesforce adds that literally couldn’t be done with 1995 tech.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#34

Post by evan_ »

ALittleLight wrote: post #14
uejfiweun wrote: post #2

I have a hard time believing this thesis that modern technology doesn't help productivity. Think about CRM software. Could you imagine having to go through hundreds of filing cabinets and massive systems just to get information about a customer? What about 100 SDRs doing this at the same time, every day? How about trying to meet with someone on the other side of the country? Or having to hire hundreds of assembly lin…

I think the non-super rich see a lot of advantages from the modern economy. As an example, just yesterday, I was picking up an order at Walmart. The guy who brought the bags to my car had Airpods in. The existence of Airpods (and phones, Internet, Bluetooth, streaming services, etc) may not have made this guy more productive, but it probably improves his life somewhat.

and when he gets home he can eat bread and watch the circus on his phone!

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#35

Post by throw8383833jj »

uejfiweun wrote: post #2

I have a hard time believing this thesis that modern technology doesn't help productivity. Think about CRM software. Could you imagine having to go through hundreds of filing cabinets and massive systems just to get information about a customer? What about 100 SDRs doing this at the same time, every day? How about trying to meet with someone on the other side of the country? Or having to hire hundreds of assembly lin…

It sounds plausible: all the benefits have gone to the rich. So, I set out to see what a world would be like if we "redistributed" all those "benefits". So, simply take the entire wealth of every billionaire in the US and divide it by the number of citizens and number of years required to acquire that wealth. It's a relatively simply equation:

Billionaire wealth / Citizens / 30 Years = Yearly Redistribution

4T / 300 M/ 30 = 500$ per year (not exactly life changing wealth)

So, if you stole every last dollar from every last billionaire in the US and redistributed it for the last 30 years, each person would only get 500$ per year.

I have a different theorey. The US and other developed countries have been loosing ever greater amounts of wealth. Wealth per capita has decreased dramatically over the last 50 years. The causes are too numerous to go into, but there are MANY.

*https://ips-dc.org/u-s-billionaire-wealth-surges-past-1-tril...

At the end of the day, humans want simple solutions to simple problems and the "wealth going to the top" theorey is super easy to understand and super easy to solve. There's only one problem: it's not true. it's debunked now. The real problem of decreasing wealth is much harder to solve and has many causes

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#36

Post by DeWilde »

uejfiweun wrote: post #2

I have a hard time believing this thesis that modern technology doesn't help productivity. Think about CRM software. Could you imagine having to go through hundreds of filing cabinets and massive systems just to get information about a customer? What about 100 SDRs doing this at the same time, every day? How about trying to meet with someone on the other side of the country? Or having to hire hundreds of assembly lin…

The gap between the richest and the poorest is probably the largest ever, but today people are also living far more comfortably than ever: electricity, heated water, food and water at a press of a button, generally good transportation to pretty much everywhere. What is lacking, for the less privileged, is mostly lack of access to affordable housing and a bad diet (arguably this is mostly due to the enticing nature of fast food and lack of education about how bad it is). Other than that the basic life necessities don't differ too wildly for the rich and the everyone who is not homeless.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#37

Post by bombcar »

mikkergp wrote: post #28
gumby wrote: post #5

I was rather disappointed in Lohr (author of this piece) as he is smart and was around in the 1990s for Solow’s famous quip “We see the computer age everywhere except in the productivity statistics”. In the age of the desktop computer the iPhone would have been a flop (especially in the US’s then-backwards wireless environment). It takes time for people to understand a new capability and for it to reach the point whe…

The call center seems to be like the standard MBA case of a cost center to optimize but where efficiency is only half correlated with positive customer experience. I mean if you can route people to the right place, and get peoples questions answered quickly it's great, but that leaves a long tail of people in the nightmare situation of digging through phone trees, dealing with untrained staff, or having someone try t…

The only real advance in call center tech in the last twenty years (imo) has been the “press 1 to be called back in the order your call was received”.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#38

Post by EarthLaunch »

tobr wrote: post #29
ALittleLight wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the non-super rich see a lot of advantages from the modern economy. As an example, just yesterday, I was picking up an order at Walmart. The guy who brought the bags to my car had Airpods in. The existence of Airpods (and phones, Internet, Bluetooth, streaming services, etc) may not have made this guy more productive, but it probably improves his life somewhat.

Am I missing something, or is this like the first time you see a guy with AirPods? What’s the significance?

It’s that people working boring or unpleasant jobs can have an audio environment of their choice. Music, podcasts, audiobooks.

This wasn’t possible when it required a huge device, but AirPods are so unobtrusive and socially acceptable that workers can wear them without it attracting undue attention.

Pranksters on YouTube use it for the same reason; people are used to seeing it and don’t associate it with receiving voice instructions.

Re: Why isn’t new technology making us more productive?

#40

Post by pcthrowaway »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #30
FredPret wrote: post #27

Have a look at our GDP per capita graph and tell me again we're not more productive. We're working less and less and making more and more. Some of it is commercial and social innovation, but a lot is technology as well. I work as a specific type of tech consultant to medium-sized companies, and it's wondrous to behold how easy we can make many aspects of business. Critical functions that took multiple handshakes, pap…

Writing or titling an article with an obviously false premise is an easy way to invoke emotions and get clicks. Sort of related to this: https://xkcd.com/386/

The phenomenon is also called Cunningham's Law: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cunningham%27s_Law
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