11–20 of 58 posts
I can agree with the author's point, but they seem oblivious to the fact that people lamenting the loss of their job is usually the politically correct way for them to lament the loss of their paycheck.
Like every single productivity improvement before it, the bulk of the gains of AI will be piled into land rents, which then gets diffused into the cost of everything that happens upon land (which is everything). Then we'll just remark "wow, we still need to keep working because the cost of living has really gone up!" and somehow not realize that the only thing in our economy where its inputs have not increased in pri…
Historically we've said "our standard of living goes up if we keep working!" and kept working. If you're happy to live to a 1700s standard life today you can probably get away only doing a little work every year. In practice people value free time less than improving their material circumstances.
> Yet somehow the prices keep rising.
There is an official government policy in all the English speaking countries I know about that every year prices should rise exponentially. I'd tag that as the most likely reason prices keep rising. It is surprising people don't point at it more often when prices rise.
I am retired, so maybe I don’t get a say in this, but as a human who enjoys life in nature and hanging with family and friends, and also in periods of free time constantly exploring technology to understand the tools I use to the best of my abilities: I find using minimal-capability local models or cheap commercial models like deepseek v4 flash to be the most satisfying because I am a major partner in solving problem…
But it’s sad that the base developer skill set is so devalued that learning something that would take people a few weeks to train you on is what gets your foot in the door.
"Oh, work is undemocratic, how odd we devote so much time to it!" - do you realise what work is? That it is at the foundation of human civilisation? Most things you see around you every day are the result of someone's work.
And of course you don't present even the slightest idea how else the world might work.
I struggle to take what is ultimately an unintentional display of the author's privilege seriously. There is no political will to reverse course on 70-odd years of redbaiting that would be a required first step toward any of the changes to resource distribution that would be required to avoid the economy collapsing when jobs start getting scarce. Shoulda coulda woulda oughta, whatever, Big Money threatens capital flight whenever a modest adjustment to simple taxation is suggested. There is no future in which they willingly submit to the kind of redistribution that would be required to finance a society where work is optional.
Its hard for highly intelligent people to understand that others simply DGAF. They just want their paycheck and they don't want to think about it deeply.
Thought leaders have existed since the dawn of human history. There were always scuffles at the top, but there were plenty of people that just went about their business, filling their roles and doing their jobs for the tribe.
If a job or task can be automated, it should be automated. That process increases productivity which is good for the economy and society. The mistake people make is thinking AI is going to lay waste to almost all employment. It may change many jobs and eliminate some but see above. If you live in a (functioning) democracy the notion is politically improbable. That's not to say there are not people who will vote again…
Anyone with even a hint of interest in labour movements in western countries probably knows that there is no such thing as a democracy working well enough to protect workers when push comes to shove.
I’d love for AI to take my job and free me from the burdensome toil of creating shareholder value. Not sure it will feed my kids, put a roof over my head and look after me as I age and my body fails me though. As mentioned below, it’s easy to feel safe and secure when one has the means, independent of their livelihood.
Transitioning from software developer to ai-wrangling software creator is a lateral move that’s a lot easier than starting a new career, and if we have a bunch of developers out of work with mortgages to pay and kids to feed, guess what their first attempt will be? And guess what salaries are like in roles with a giant labor surplus? Companies don’t pay people what they’re worth — they pay people what they’ll work for. If you’re looking at a foreclosure notice and no other prospects, or health insurance that costs $1500/mo and your kid has a chronic health condition, you will do a tougher job than your last one for less money than your interns made, and after staring the losing-everything abyss face-to-face, you will feel lucky to have it.