Live data from Hacker News

In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

reason.com

11–20 of 68 posts

Re: In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

#11
post #9
post #2

TLDR: "The future is bigger than we can imagine. Change is equally hard to comprehend. Two centuries ago, 80 percent of the U.S. population worked on farms. If you told one of those farmers that in 2024 barely 1 percent of the population would work on farms, he'd have a difficult time imagining what the other 79 percent of the population would do with their time. If you then tried to explain what an average income co…

Makes me sound old, but I'm sort of glad we don't live forever. Putting up with that kind of change sounds miserable.

really?

i would love to live forever, because these changes have been beneficial, and those who lived two centuries go would've loved to trade places.

Re: In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

#13
post #11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me sound old, but I'm sort of glad we don't live forever. Putting up with that kind of change sounds miserable.

really? i would love to live forever, because these changes have been beneficial, and those who lived two centuries go would've loved to trade places.

Those two centuries ago probably yes. Three decades ago probably not. The world is in a much darker place than the 90s. And our extreme consumption is partly to blame, as is internet manipulation of the masses.

Re: In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

#14
This is a really poorly argued article, not sure even where to start dismantling the author's arguments. (Almost feels like ChatGPT wrote this article).

But let's start with this "If H&R Block could replace 90 percent of its seasonal employees with AI, it would see its profits skyrocket, given that labor is its biggest expense. Those profits would be reallocated elsewhere, that would increase the potential for even more economic growth, and that would in turn create better opportunities for the accountants."

=> Lol, no. It doesn't work that way. H&R block, if any, will allocate more to share buy backs, and the size of the tax filing "pie" won't increase due to AI.

Re: In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

#16

This is a really poorly argued article, not sure even where to start dismantling the author's arguments. (Almost feels like ChatGPT wrote this article). But let's start with this "If H&R Block could replace 90 percent of its seasonal employees with AI, it would see its profits skyrocket, given that labor is its biggest expense. Those profits would be reallocated elsewhere, that would increase the potential for even m…

I feel like the author has missed the concept of “Past performance is no guarantee of future results”.

Re: In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

#17

This is a really poorly argued article, not sure even where to start dismantling the author's arguments. (Almost feels like ChatGPT wrote this article). But let's start with this "If H&R Block could replace 90 percent of its seasonal employees with AI, it would see its profits skyrocket, given that labor is its biggest expense. Those profits would be reallocated elsewhere, that would increase the potential for even m…

Exactly. Rich people tend to horde their wealth and seek more. When they have an opportunity to extract wealth from others they do so. The increase in economic growth from this extraction is minimal in comparison to the amount extracted.

Re: In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

#18
post #11
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes me sound old, but I'm sort of glad we don't live forever. Putting up with that kind of change sounds miserable.

really? i would love to live forever, because these changes have been beneficial, and those who lived two centuries go would've loved to trade places.

Having to work forever sounds miserable. I think there would be some psychological impacts as well around how we'd treat life, risk taking, etc. While many things would improve, it feels like seeing the natural wonders fade away for developments and stuff would be worse. Like we'd be trading human connection, general freedom, and privacy for more stuff.

I am excited about some stuff in the future, but I'm more pessimistic about how ever increasingly complicated and expensive life will become. There are a few things that I enjoy where I can already see the writing on the wall for them to disappear or be banned.

Re: In the AI Economy, There Will Be Zero Percent Unemployment

#19
post #10

Isn't zero-precent unemployment the exact opposite of the star trek utopia we were promised?

Not really. In Star Trek, you have access to mental healthcare and the educational resources to go do something you want to do. Then that’s the work.

I think it’s a little unbelievable that the right proportion of people want to, say, serve food at a restaurant. But that’s the idea.

Post reply on HN