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A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

nytimes.com

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Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#71

Post by scotty79 »

jsrozner wrote: post #44
scotty79 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things come to be only when there's demand for them. Nothing else makes the capitalist pay the worker or expand any business. AI providing the missing demand might be the thing that will push our infrastructure industries into XXI century. Because everywhere except China infrastructure seems to be stuck in the 70-ties of the previous one.

Things come to be only when the people with MONEY demand them. If you have no money your demand doesn't exist. A society this unequal serves only the rich (whether that's people or companies).

Money is a mechanism for keeping tabs on how much the human civilization owes to any particular person or entity. It's imperfect, sure. But it's what we decided to go with. If you don't have money, society just decided (using its mechanisms) it pretty much owes you nothing. So your demands are disregarded.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#72

Post by hyperbovine »

willis936 wrote: post #17
kristov wrote: post #11

It'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…

tbf, I don't think Wagyu cows were that thrilled about their lot in life before Wagyu became a thing, either.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#73

Post by [deleted] »

willis936 wrote: post #17
kristov wrote: post #11

It'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…

[deleted]

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#75

Post by AirMax98 »

cmiles8 wrote: post #32

The same thing happened with the oil sands boom 15 years ago. Industrial sites were losing skilled trades people left and right as they went up north to make 2-3x their salary. Then that bubble popped and these folks were tossed onto the street before they could blink. By all means go make money if the opportunity presents itself. I love to see well compensated trades. But be under no illusions that when the bubble p…

Same as always, got it.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#76

Post by logicchains »

fluoridation wrote: post #69
SR2Z wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not more "revealed choice" BS. There's no free choice I'm not even talking about at work, I'm saying that a large majority of Americans are using AI of their own free will in situations where it's not required but is genuinely useful. The sheer number of people means that a lot of them must also say they're anti-AI, and my point is that whether or not they say they like it they're undeniably choosing to use it. > P…

>I'm not even talking about at work, I'm saying that a large majority of Americans are using AI of their own free will in situations where it's not required but is genuinely useful. The sheer number of people means that a lot of them must also say they're anti-AI, and my point is that whether or not they say they like it they're undeniably choosing to use it. I don't think there's really a contradiction there. You ca…

>You can recognize the utility of something while acknowledging that, on the whole, it'd be better if it didn't exist.

There's a word for that: hypocrisy.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#77

Post by logicchains »

gib444 wrote: post #50
bpodgursky wrote: post #28

Earlier 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!

> AI employs unionized middle-class workers: AI is stealing cheap labor from the rest of us! What cheap labour? Tradespeople are not cheap (especially if you factor in the quality of the work). This just makes them even more expensive. Meaning a big impact on homes – you know, the things people and families live in, in order to survive. Pretty important

>Meaning a big impact on homes – you know, the things people and families live in, in order to survive.

Maybe those people should pay their tradespeople better then. Everybody's all "workers should be paid more" until they're the one paying the worker.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#78

Post by goatlover »

goodpoint wrote: post #18
kristov wrote: post #11

It's nice to hear tradespeople getting paid well with lots of work. I'm happy for them :-)

For the next 6 months until they get all replaced by robots

Doubt we'll see electricians, plumbers or carpenters being replaced anytime soon.

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#79

Post by Aurornis »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #19
bluGill wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get into any construction job you need to expect to move job sites regularly. If it is a single family house that might be as much as twice a day. If it is a large industrial site it might be every few years. However it is unusual to work at the same location for much longer. You are also subject to the economy more than most jobs. When things start going bad you are the first one cut. It can still be a good c…

If the demand is great enough, they can fly trades to site and put them up in a hotel, just like any consultant.

This is rare. Some times they'll have people drive in from a couple hours away and put them up in a hotel for some nights.

If you're unlucky, the job will be far away but below the cutoff for a hotel, so you have to choose between driving home every night or paying for your own hotel. Younger people sleep in their car some times.

Any long distance site starts excluding more and more of the older workers and those with families. It's a younger workers game for the most part

Re: A.I. companies are recruiting electricians and carpenters by the thousands

#80

Post by fl4regun »

kristov wrote: post #11

It's nice to hear tradespeople getting paid well with lots of work. I'm happy for them :-)

just don't forget these are temporary, eventually there will be "enough" data centers, and none of these jobs will exist, so if you are planning a 20 year + career, don't count on this being the norm.
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