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A disaster is looming for American men

washingtonpost.com

1–10 of 93 posts

Re: A disaster is looming for American men

#2
> "Job destruction caused by technology is not a futuristic concern. It is something we have been living with for two generations"

If American thought leaders such as Larry Summers think that technology destroys jobs and that it's a relatively recent phenomenon, then America is truly screwed.

Re: A disaster is looming for American men

#3

> "Job destruction caused by technology is not a futuristic concern. It is something we have been living with for two generations" If American thought leaders such as Larry Summers think that technology destroys jobs and that it's a relatively recent phenomenon, then America is truly screwed.

I do suspect some industries, such as trucking, will get hit with a severe blow. Many truckers make decent money without many skills to transfer to alternative industries. It will be really rough for them even if it will make shipping safer and cheaper.

Re: A disaster is looming for American men

#5

> "Job destruction caused by technology is not a futuristic concern. It is something we have been living with for two generations" If American thought leaders such as Larry Summers think that technology destroys jobs and that it's a relatively recent phenomenon, then America is truly screwed.

It's all just this century's Luddites

Re: A disaster is looming for American men

#6

Is this only a problem for men? And if so why? I can't help but think that an article this short can't be anything more than fluff.

I can think of a few reasons.

1) Women are graduating from college at a higher rate than men.

2) Women are going to college at a higher rate than men.

3) Women have a higher literacy rate than men.

4) Women graduate from high school at a higher rate than men.

These trends are likely to continue. I don't see any possible scenario where men are not worse off in 20 years than they are today, while the higher educated women continue upwards. This is likely especially the case given that trends in education are pointing drastically in favor of women.

If you examine men-heavy trades such as trucking, they are likely to almost entirely disappear in regards to providing plentiful millions of moderate paying jobs to fairly low skill blue collar workers. Nearly all taxi & Uber type jobs will also disappear, those too are dominated by men. Manufacturing will become even further automated by robotics + AI, those jobs are heavily dominated by men. Even military jobs are likely to be meaningfully reduced by leaps in automation and robotics.

Re: A disaster is looming for American men

#7

Is this only a problem for men? And if so why? I can't help but think that an article this short can't be anything more than fluff.

I think it's hardly a problem just for men, it's probably just the statistic they have been able to easily measure or have data for. And especially given that women have an increasing role over time in the work force, that would confound the numbers a bit if you are trying to measure things more stably over the last few decades.

Re: A disaster is looming for American men

#8
post #3

> "Job destruction caused by technology is not a futuristic concern. It is something we have been living with for two generations" If American thought leaders such as Larry Summers think that technology destroys jobs and that it's a relatively recent phenomenon, then America is truly screwed.

I do suspect some industries, such as trucking, will get hit with a severe blow. Many truckers make decent money without many skills to transfer to alternative industries. It will be really rough for them even if it will make shipping safer and cheaper.

In the interim, I imagine that long haul truckers will be decimated - and short haul trucking (last 20 miles) will flourish. That should soften the blow through the transition period; where AI is good enough to drive straight out of a loading facility, down the highway, and straight into another facility, but not quite good enough to back down an ally in a congested city and get the paperwork stamped by the right person.

Re: A disaster is looming for American men

#9

> "Job destruction caused by technology is not a futuristic concern. It is something we have been living with for two generations" If American thought leaders such as Larry Summers think that technology destroys jobs and that it's a relatively recent phenomenon, then America is truly screwed.

I think you miss the point of the article. It's not that technology destroys jobs but that in the next century, technology could potentially destroy jobs at a faster rate than it adds new ones. That would be an unprecedented event in American history.
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