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Can we have the day off?

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Re: Can we have the day off?

#51

Post by monkaiju »

cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

I mean productivity gains don't usually go towards making the workers life any better. Also I'm still less than convinced there are any net productivity gains from AI anyway.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#52

Post by hnzix »

matchbok3 wrote: post #21
mschuster91 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Yeah but the transition is rough. For example when we have autonomous vehicles what are all those drivers going to do. You might saw "tough luck" but we are a society not just an economy.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#53

Post by passive »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #37
cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

well productivity gains are largely met with higher standard of living, quality of life and the upward movement of the lowest classes, for one.

That's not generally true in the US over the last 40 years, where the gains from productivity increases have been accumulated almost entirely by the top classes.

Yes, lower classes have access to many more conveniences then they might have had in earlier decades, but they are working far more hours, and their expected lifespan has started decreasing.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#54

Post by bigbuppo »

kingforaday wrote: post #28

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 bus…

No. They should give you 40x your current pay. The AI made you 10x more productive, and you worked four days, so you generated 40x the economic output. As such, you should get 40x in pay. At this point, you're doing the company a favor by taking a day off as otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford you.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#55

Post by MichaelZuo »

p-e-w wrote: post #46
calvinmorrison wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well productivity gains are largely met with higher standard of living, quality of life and the upward movement of the lowest classes, for one.

That hasn’t been true for decades in the West, even though per-capita productivity has been steadily rising since WW2.

Are you sure?

From the data I’ve seen the bottom decile Americans consume significantly more per capita compared to even 2006.

e.g. plane travel was completely absent amongst the bottom decile in 2006, like so close to zero mileage per capita per annum it was a rounding error.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#56

Post by terminalgravity »

Benefits for extra productivity filter up to the shareholders not to the workers producing the extra productivity.

This reminds me of the Luddite movement in England. Industrial machines were disrupting the textile industry. The Luddites were not anti technology they were against technology allowing employers to suppress wages and working conditions and for increasing the quality of life and more humane working conditions for the extra productivity.

As we know their movement was not successful giving rise to the bleak images of industrial factory life in England. I think all that will happen is workers will expect to be more productive than before but their skills will be less compensated because “the machine” did most of the work.

https://theconversation.com/im-a-luddite-you-should-be-one-t...

Re: Can we have the day off?

#57

Post by Hamster7330 »

cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

Wow. Yes.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#58

Post by BrenBarn »

cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

> We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us?

More flour more water. More water more flour.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#60

Post by euroderf »

_carbyau_ wrote: post #7
nemomarx wrote: post #2

the four day work week has been trialed many times and already would have been the same or higher productivity before agents, honestly. if agents get really good let's just go to 3?

From an economic flow point of view: Time not spent working could be time working on spending.

Yes. The leisure industry is, in fact, a real industry, and it is a service industry that creates a lot of employment.
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