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Can we have the day off?

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Re: Can we have the day off?

#211

Post by shimman »

moduspol wrote: post #199
cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

Computers and the Internet ushered in huge productivity gains. Despite many people losing their jobs as a result, it's tough to argue society isn't better off. I think that's the key difference with AI, though. It's not like I'm losing my job, but at least I have a robot at home that cleans the house and does my laundry. People are having their livelihoods threatened while their utility bills go up because of datacen…

Is this a joke? Income inequality is at it's highest (even worse than the gilded age), deaths of despair are at their highest as well, people can't afford childcare (a years worth of childcare costs more than college), people are losing access to health insurance en masse; but we're suppose to think society is truly better off?

What brand of edibles do you have there 'bud? I'd like to fly into that realm of alternate reality for a bit.

Also when have any efficiencies gained by employers benefited workers? Being honest here because the only time workers have truly gained anything was due to solidarity between workers in the forms of strikes + workplace sabotage.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#212

Post by fyrn_ »

Ancalagon wrote: post #206
moduspol wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Computers and the Internet ushered in huge productivity gains. Despite many people losing their jobs as a result, it's tough to argue society isn't better off. I think that's the key difference with AI, though. It's not like I'm losing my job, but at least I have a robot at home that cleans the house and does my laundry. People are having their livelihoods threatened while their utility bills go up because of datacen…

Is society better off? Honest question, you used to be able to support a family of four with a single 9-5.

Shareholders = society. The rest of us are just the help

Re: Can we have the day off?

#213

Post by aaron695 »

cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

[dead]

Re: Can we have the day off?

#215

Post by hnthrowaway0315 »

vanuatu wrote: post #202

Top professionals whose comp is tied to performance didn't work 40hr 9-5s in the first place - but their comp is tied to performance, so when they have 10x the output they are compensated accordingly Roles that come with a 40hr work week were already decoupled from performance, if AI made those workers 10x more productive they will rarely see the fruits of their productivity On an individual level it seems like the c…

How can one move horizontally and then vertically? I have been thinking about getting into a more technical position. I work as a data engineer but essentially just a data modeller while manager and staff engineer took all the fun jobs -- it is even very hard to know what they are working on, so it is impossible to even ask for certain tickets.

And now with AI coming out in hot, and companies only hiring seniors, I found it very hard to move horizontally. It is not like I can't take a pay cut, but people simply won't hire someone who takes some time to learn the rope.

I might as well figure out how to increase my Charisma to 18 and sleep with someone at the top /s

Re: Can we have the day off?

#216

Post by krashidov »

lmm wrote: post #42
krashidov wrote: post #22

> If AI is going to 10x our productivity across the board, that means that I should be able to produce the same amount of output by midday on Monday that, in the before times, would have taken all week. That would be true if you and only you are 10x more productive than anyone else. Since everyone is now 10x more productive it just means you have to work just as much as before since you're competition can outwork you…

> That would be true if you and only you are 10x more productive than anyone else. Since everyone is now 10x more productive it just means you have to work just as much as before since you're competition can outwork you. Why? I don't need 10x more stuff. I'd far rather spend 10x less time working. If we're talking about an actual productivity increase, let's just produce the same amount of stuff in 10x less time.

> Why? I don't need 10x more stuff.

If everyone had said this 100 years ago we wouldn't have the Polio vaccine, air conditioning etc.

There are lots of problems in the world and there are still a ton of incentives to fix those problems. Yes there is also greed, scams, and exploitation - but that's never going to go away

Re: Can we have the day off?

#218

Post by toomuchtodo »

apt-apt-apt-apt wrote: post #134
madrox wrote: post #65

The four day work week is a prisoner's dilemma. If everyone did it, then we'd all get a payoff, but if someone defects to a longer work week they tend to get ahead at work. Thus we all do it and thus we all lose. It's funny how underappreciated it is how the five day work week is powered by norms...at least in the US. People assume there are laws about it. The only laws dictate compensation past certain thresholds, a…

Alright guys, I'm running for president. 4 day work weeks (8 hours each) for employees or prison.

You have my vote. Work to live, don’t live to work.

~90% of Iceland is on a 35-36 hours work week, seems to work fine.

Remote work was also skeptically thought of up until a global pandemic forced it, and while there has been some retreat, 20% of Americans work remotely in some capacity still. Just need a catalyst to challenge norms and rigid mental models.

https://autonomy.work/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ICELAND_4DW...

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/25/business/iceland-shorter-work...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/21/icelan...

Re: Can we have the day off?

#219

Post by shimman »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #99
Sl1mb0 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still people in America who live without running water. There are still people who work on fishing boats in Alaska. There are still people who hitchhike. This is literally just an anecdote trying to deflect from contemporary problems. I don't see any value in this sort of discourse. Just because things may have been worse for specific individuals does *not* mean that current problems shouldn't be addressed.

oh no an anecdote! run away!

You should, especially when said anecdote amounts to "shut the fuck up and be thankful to your corporate overlords peasant."

Re: Can we have the day off?

#220

Post by stego-tech »

cattown wrote: post #33

This article is kind of playful, but I think there’s a serious point here that’s not discussed enough. We’re being asked to usher in huge productivity gains by introducing AI to our workflows, but we’re not asking how does it help us? Not a lot of us stand to directly gain from our employers becoming more productive. I know everybody is afraid of getting fired and replaced with AI or whatever right now. But we should…

If workers got time off relative to the productivity gains achieved of the past fifty years and considering the comparatively stagnant wages over that time period, we’d only be working 2 to 3 days a week, tops.

The author might be being playful, but an increasing amount of folks at or past their breaking points definitely aren’t.

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