It's nice to hear tradespeople getting paid well with lots of work. I'm happy for them :-)
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A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
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Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's sort of no winning here! AI unemploys middle-class workers: AI is stealing jobs from the middle class! AI employs unionized middle-class workers: AI is stealing cheap labor from the rest of us!
> There's sort of no winning here! > AI unemploys middle-class workers: AI is stealing jobs from the middle class! > AI employs unionized middle-class workers: AI is stealing cheap labor from the rest of us! Come on, you've got to know it's not going to employ those "unionized middle-class workers" for long. Their jobs are sort of like these jobs: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/business/ai-white-collar-... ("peop…
But that's true of most carpentry and electrical jobs. In-house carpenters and electricians are a minority.
Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#53Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#54It's nice to hear tradespeople getting paid well with lots of work. I'm happy for them :-)
Yes, that's good. It also prices out a lot of other better uses for their labor. Projects I work on have seen prices soar. I don't consider building the things everyone hates because they promise concentration of wealth and an attack on labor at the expense of building literally anything else to be somehow a big W for labor because a few people get a slightly higher temporary paycheck. Ask the Wagyu cows how they fee…
I am, exactly right this minuit, trying to explain that I am not able to quote competitivly for certain types of specialised metal work as there are specialists for that, but am facing insistent inquirys anyway.I do clean sheet custom one of a kind projects as a rule, for which, due to AI recomending my company through some imaculate process, I am exploring how much I can charge for helping the singuarity along, though all in all I am glad I have other skill sets to deploy should we run the whole thing into the ground.
Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#55Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's sort of no winning here! > AI unemploys middle-class workers: AI is stealing jobs from the middle class! > AI employs unionized middle-class workers: AI is stealing cheap labor from the rest of us! Come on, you've got to know it's not going to employ those "unionized middle-class workers" for long. Their jobs are sort of like these jobs: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/business/ai-white-collar-... ("peop…
But that's true of most carpentry and electrical jobs. In-house carpenters and electricians are a minority.
I was responding to the implied symmetry in the GP: the "employs" does not balance out the "unemploys", because the unemployment is likely permanent and the employment temporary.
And then there's the fucked up resource allocation: throwing around insane amounts of money, driving up the prices of things the people actually want, to build hated things for investors and billionaires, which is a separate issue.
Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's sort of no winning here! AI unemploys middle-class workers: AI is stealing jobs from the middle class! AI employs unionized middle-class workers: AI is stealing cheap labor from the rest of us!
> There's sort of no winning here! > AI unemploys middle-class workers: AI is stealing jobs from the middle class! > AI employs unionized middle-class workers: AI is stealing cheap labor from the rest of us! Come on, you've got to know it's not going to employ those "unionized middle-class workers" for long. Their jobs are sort of like these jobs: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/business/ai-white-collar-... ("peop…
I don't think that ANY project employs electricians and carpenters for long, because they are there to build something that will ideally last decades or more...
I'm not even sure it's as simple as "stuff people don't like." Many of the anti-AI crowd use ChatGPT which kind of complicates the question of "do they REALLY dislike it?"
I guess you could complain that robots will replace electricians and carpenters, but it's still going to be a decade before anyone trusts an LLM to wire a house.
Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#58That's quite a spin on AI coming for your job if I do say so. ;) Hope they get their money's worth.
Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#59There are a few Data Centers going up within a couple hours of me, it has pulled all of the trades people away from us. I've called around to every electrician I can find online, or been recommended by neighbors, they are all out of town for the foreseeable future. Same with HVAC and to a lesser extent plumbers. I've had to learn a lot of skills this summer trying to get some repairs done on my house, and I've had to…
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Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> There's sort of no winning here! > AI unemploys middle-class workers: AI is stealing jobs from the middle class! > AI employs unionized middle-class workers: AI is stealing cheap labor from the rest of us! Come on, you've got to know it's not going to employ those "unionized middle-class workers" for long. Their jobs are sort of like these jobs: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/business/ai-white-collar-... ("peop…
I don't think that ANY project employs electricians and carpenters for long, because they are there to build something that will ideally last decades or more... I'm not even sure it's as simple as "stuff people don't like." Many of the anti-AI crowd use ChatGPT which kind of complicates the question of "do they REALLY dislike it?" I guess you could complain that robots will replace electricians and carpenters, but it…
> Many of the anti-AI crowd use ChatGPT which kind of complicates the question of "do they REALLY dislike it?"
Not more "revealed choice" BS. There's no free choice: even if someone doesn't want to use ChatGPT, they may not be allowed to avoid it. I'm literally forced to use it at work, for instance. Others may be forced to use it due to market or other pressures.
Personally, I wouldn't mind of someone dropped a couple cluster bombs on each of these AI data centers, after construction is complete, and LLMs just disappeared as a practical technology.
> I don't think that ANY project employs electricians and carpenters for long, because they are there to build something that will ideally last decades or more...
See my reply to the other guy who made the same point before you did.