Organization probably doesn't want to improve things

>> I'm really skeptical that it's easy to automate those assembly line jobs away

I think most people here on HN does not see this because they tend to do software related work, but this is happening faster that you may think.

When I last time spoke with middle level manager of building company that specializes in constructing factories in Central Europe he said that change over last 20 years is almost magical - factory built at the start of millenium required hundreds people to operate. Projects finished two decades laters can easily operate with 20 people or less.

And this is East/Central Europe - probably least automated part of developed world.

If you look at Japan you can see things such as fully automated ps 4/5 production lines ( https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/PlayStation-s-sec... )

People are naturally strangely shaped. When they join a large organization, they must fit into a Voronoi diagram[1]. Shape is a metaphor for both degrees-of-freedom and for knowledge. This is also, funnily enough, a good way to describe cell packing in plants, incl. trees.

One striking example of a role requiring deep behavioral and epistemic changes is that of a judge. A judge must learn to edit their memory and learn to not know things. I find this striking because you'd think that, objectively, knowing more is better. But the rules of court have decided this is not true. If you want that job, you will do this. (It's not all bad: any lawyer will tell you of the risk-minimizing bliss of not knowing things.)

The behavioral adjustments - mostly behavioral losses - are usually not so strange. Usually they are a peon to tribal socialization. In a tribe there are rules that aren't 'fair' because they do not reference the details of the specific conflict, who's right or wrong. The rules are simpler than that, making reference only to relationships and "who started it". You don't dis the leader, you don't pick fights, and absolutely never pick a fight with leader-favored members, etc.

The OP hints at the proper viewpoint, but then diverges. They are strange structures with lots of rustling leaves. But he does not perceive the value and origin of these structures on their own terms. One must take the view of a zoologist observing the behavior of a parasite, or a slime-mold. It is a mistake to anthropomorphize them, just as it is a mistake to anthropomorphize human social structures.

1 - https://github.com/d3/d3-voronoi

Playing devils advocate here - how this is inherent to communism? I would rather guess that this is emerged behaviour of any human system that is facing collapse and has no preventions build in.

I could probably find a few not so great capitalistic systems results (even American flavoured ones) that had tendencies dangerously close to those you describe (ever heard about company stores ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store).

Of course!

I have also never raised my spending to anything close to that. Nor I have the choice of making $500k (I wish).

When I mention standard of living I don't mean spending like crazy. I mean not having to constantly worry that if you lose your job you can't make your mortgage in a few months.

I save around 50% of my salary and I'd save even more if I didn't have a kid and wasn't the sole provider in my home right now. Not because I wouldn't love to be living like a king, but because for me that's the only option I have to afford a life long term.

What if I die? What if I get hurt and can't work anymore? What if me or my wife gets sick and we can't treat it with the limited free healthcare we have access to?

Even barring that. I absolutely hate that I have to give away the prime hours of my day to ensure me and my family can simply survive. I don't want to do that forever. I'd much rather use all I know to build software that actually makes a difference. Read more, experience life more. Travel at least once in my life. Enjoy life while I'm not declining physically and mentally.

I could definitely earn less and live a less stressful life in a better company if I wanted to. But that's the kind of decision that will most likely come back to haunt me and my family in the long term.

Maybe I get very lucky and none of those things happen, and all the time I suffered through those soulless jobs was not needed. But in my view that's a risk I'm willing to take.

To your point, if you are talking about simply getting all that extra money and spend it all without a care, I agree. That's a choice but one I don't have the same sympathy for.

10x? Financial independence is normally at least 20x, more like 30x.

> How is your nationality relevant to reading stats? If you don't want to, then just say that.

Sorry maybe I wasn't clear, but that's exactly what I meant. I won't dig into stats for the US because it's of no interest to me. That's why I mentioned I'm not from the US.

I know that for my country that's absolutely not the case and I'm pretty sure it's the same for most of the world.