Can we have the day off? • Hacker News Board

Re: Can we have the day off?

#21

Post by matchbok3 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:02 AM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #13

great_wubwub wrote: post #5

This reminds me of Ted Chiang's point that fear of technology is really fear of capitalism. https://kottke.org/21/04/ted-chiang-fears-of-technology-are-... "Most of the things that we worry about under the mode of capitalism that the U.S practices, that is going to put people out of work, that is going to make people’s lives harder, because corporations will see it as a way to increase their profits and reduce their…

> It’s not that technology fundamentally is about putting people out of work. The problem is, it has always been that way - and not just in the US. The introduction of any kind of new technology or other way of disproportionately improving corporate bottom lines has always led to job losses, the key thing is what governments do in response to it. The Industrial Revolution for example led to widespread devastation, th…

All of those things also resulted in the massive increase in the quality of life for everyone. Nobody will suggest we ban cars and go back to horse and buggies so cowboys can have jobs.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#22

Post by krashidov » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:03 AM UTC

> If AI is going to 10x our productivity across the board, that means that I should be able to produce the same amount of output by midday on Monday that, in the before times, would have taken all week.

That would be true if you and only you are 10x more productive than anyone else. Since everyone is now 10x more productive it just means you have to work just as much as before since you're competition can outwork you. I don't get why people don't understand this.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#23

Post by Henchman21 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:04 AM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #6

Star Trek post-scarcity economy when?? https://rickwebb.medium.com/the-economics-of-star-trek-29bab...

Not until aliens land and show us the way. I firmly believe we aren’t presently capable of allowing a post-scarcity economy to exist — too much stuff is based on scarcity. So much so that we create scarcity instead of giving away excess. I’m thinking of food specifically.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#24

Post by matchbok3 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:04 AM UTC

Sorry, I'd rather have a higher quality of living for most people (as evidenced by any huge development in technology) rather than humanity stagnating. This post is quite myopic.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#25

Post by goosejuice » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:04 AM UTC

The best way to take advantage right now is to consult. Take some time off and just do a little on the side. Then again the job market could collapse, so maybe keep your job?

Re: Can we have the day off?

#26

Post by lo_zamoyski » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:04 AM UTC

Labor saving tech doesn't lead to more free time, and certainly not in a way that's proportional to the gains of automation. Instead, companies will expect still more productivity. Why give you more time off if they can keep workdays fixed and add still more productivity? Certainly, the competition will do it.

Appetite grows with eating.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#27

Post by cebert » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:04 AM UTC

maximinus_thrax wrote: post #4

> If AI is going to 10x our productivity across the board, that means that I should be able to produce the same amount of output by midday on Monday that, in the before times, would have taken all week. You must be new here. No, that's not how this work. If you are able to produce the same amount of work by midday Monday we expect you to increase the amount of output in the current system by 14 x. And the owners pock…

> And the owners pocket the financial gain from this productivity delta and you should be happy you even have a job.

This is why it’s prudent for more of us to figure out a way to be our own owners.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#28

Post by kingforaday » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:05 AM UTC

This is certainly a fun exercise in economics. By taking a shortened work-week, should the companies then pay us 80% of our current comp? Or maybe a little less since they will have to pay for the added tokens we are now using as part of our job that we used to do manually (i.e. time)? Or perhaps we are able to justify that now they can save overhead by reducing facilities costs by 20% as well. Oh but maybe their business lease has a continuous occupancy clause and now the reduction in foot traffic causes them to get penalized so they need to reduce our salaries even more. Slippery slope my friend.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#29

Post by bruce511 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:05 AM UTC

I get where the writer is coming from, but it misses one very important point.

>> If AI is going to 10x our productivity across the board, that means that I should be able to produce the same amount of output by midday on Monday that, in the before times, would have taken all week.

You are thinking of productivity as "code written". And certainly that part of your job will get more productive.

But that is just something you do when you're not in meetings. (or when you're in a meeting, but the camera is off, and you're not really listening). Your real job is to attend meetings. And unfortunately AI can't help with that (yet).

(I'm not even being sarcastic. Most programmers don't realize that they have been hired to have meetings.)

What it can do is free you up from the pesky code-writing part of your job, freeing you up to attend even more meetings. And this does indeed make management happy because (seriously now) their job is having meetings, and you being "unavailable" (because you know, you want to program) was hindering them in the first place.

So no, you can't have Friday off, but now that you mention it, let's set aside that time for "team building" exercises...

Re: Can we have the day off?

#30

Post by lorecore » Thu, May 28, 2026, 1:05 AM UTC

great_wubwub wrote: post #5

This reminds me of Ted Chiang's point that fear of technology is really fear of capitalism. https://kottke.org/21/04/ted-chiang-fears-of-technology-are-... "Most of the things that we worry about under the mode of capitalism that the U.S practices, that is going to put people out of work, that is going to make people’s lives harder, because corporations will see it as a way to increase their profits and reduce their…

I agree for the most part, but fear of technological weapons is sort of the opposite of capitalism. So much of our technology stack was built by the government for warfare (including the internet) and in that sense is a form of socialism.

I fear being targeted by an AI drone and mass surveillance. Neither of which are driven by capitalism (although being targeted by either of those by some billionaire because I refuse to RTO is related).