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The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

danielhomola.com

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Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#321

Post by _DeadFred_ »

bloppe wrote: post #194
jmye wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We’re already there. Your individual labor isn’t enough to make a living unless you subscribe to the altar of a feudal FAANG. This is preposterous. You think you already can't "make a living" without working at a FAANG? Is this a serious post?

For a lot of people on HN, "making a living" means owning property in a VHCOL area.

For a lot of people on HN, they grew up in VHCOL places that used to be affordable and are trying to keep the lives they've had since birth.

I was forced to move, lost connection to my friends and half my family, all the places I knew and had memories/attachment to, habits/hobbies. I understand why they are fighting to keep their lives and not give up and in a way die and start a new, lonelier, much different life.

I don't understand how that is nepo/spoiled/rich behavior, it's just basic normal human behavior. Thinking it's totally cool to displace people is also normal human behavior, just to me the shittier less justifiable of the two.

Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#322

Post by nsingh2 »

TGower wrote: post #199
pjerem wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely don't want to be snarky but does the average joe needs a planet that is breathable and isn't burning or does he need even "more goods and services to go around". Robotic helpers to do what ? More free time ? We, as a society, can already have more free time, we just have to choose to work less. We already have it all : enough food and housing for everybody, 80+ years of life expectancy ... What will we ac…

> a planet that is breathable and isn't burning This is a perfect example of something that can benefit greatly from abundant goods and services. Driving the cost of solar panel manufacturing, supply chain included, and deployment. Enabling continuous monitoring and fast response to GHG leaks or forest fire starting. Reforesting efforts. There are so many ways in which the application of intelligence and labor can he…

>> More free time?

> Yes! Time we can reclaim from the mundane chores of life to do with as we choose! How could you not want that?

We already had a huge productivity boom these past decades, but wages flat-lined and the vast majority of the profits and surplus went to the top. Housing, education, and healthcare became less affordable, not more. History points against your simple view.

I'm not convinced that AI breaks that pattern. If anything, the concentration is worse this time. The capital required is huge, the technology is controlled by a handful of companies, and the most applications are about replacing labor. That last part further erodes the already meager worker bargaining power.

We do need a serious systemic change to get to the world you're envisioning. One where that congealed wealth needs to start flowing again.

Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#323

Post by BobaFloutist »

apercu wrote: post #68
bloppe wrote: post #30

Until I see median real income start to actually go down, I just don't buy it. AI is currently a commodity. Maybe one of the labs will be able to differentiate sufficiently to be able to charge the kinds of premiums they need just to pay back their investors. Maybe, instead, we'll see something akin to the FOSS revolution, where large, high-quality, open training sets are developed to make sure there's always a fair…

> Until I see median real income start to actually go down I'm not sure I understand this, it doesn't feel like what I have "lived" for the least 30 years. Median real income might not be down statistically, but the purchasing power of professional incomes relative to housing, education, and major life costs clearly feels lower than it did in the mid 90s. An inflation-adjusted six-figure salary today does not deliver…

According to a random inflation calculator I found with a lazy Google search, $50,000 in 1996 is about $106,000 today.

Was $50,000 a lot of money in 1996? Did it afford a nice house in a good neighborhood? Or is it that 6 figures just isn't what it used to be?

Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#325

Post by 6510 »

Nevermark wrote: post #154
cglan wrote: post #16

The future (if we keep using money to allocate resources) is something akin to feudalism but worse. If you are born at the bottom you will never rise to the top. It's bleak. Even worse, your labor will not be needed, nor will your intellectual abilities. There will be a few well off people with capital. The data centers will be guarded by automatons and drones. Everyone else will essentially live in a parallel econom…

There isn’t an alternative to allocating resources with money because money is a just measure of value. Things will get valued, relative to each other. Because different things are harder to make, or needed more. And it’s a whole lot better to measure that and make decisions informed than to not measure properly, or ignore those measurements, and watch resources get misdirected in a way that shrinks the economy. You…

Fiat is actually a warped backroom version of money. It's a measure of trust I think? You could replace it with something that represents resources, perhaps even [future] labor.

Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#326

Post by hootz »

BobbyJo wrote: post #218

HN's users are probably the most measured and considerate on the internet, and even here it is difficult to talk about things like this with any degree of nuance. Maybe that is itself a sign of the widening wealth disparity. Even smart, normally tepid, people fall into extremes when wealth is discussed.

Yes, it is a sign of the widening wealth disparity. It's hard to stay moderate when your identity, security and existence is increasingly being threatened.

Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#327

Post by scottyah »

Nevermark wrote: post #154
cglan wrote: post #16

The future (if we keep using money to allocate resources) is something akin to feudalism but worse. If you are born at the bottom you will never rise to the top. It's bleak. Even worse, your labor will not be needed, nor will your intellectual abilities. There will be a few well off people with capital. The data centers will be guarded by automatons and drones. Everyone else will essentially live in a parallel econom…

There isn’t an alternative to allocating resources with money because money is a just measure of value. Things will get valued, relative to each other. Because different things are harder to make, or needed more. And it’s a whole lot better to measure that and make decisions informed than to not measure properly, or ignore those measurements, and watch resources get misdirected in a way that shrinks the economy. You…

The problem is just how far USD has departed from the value. There are some funny tricks people pulled with abstract concepts and now people have found a way to "print" their own money. It's created a new power and influence shift because you can just go to the Finance or Tech worlds and get money instead of producing actual value to other humans.

Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#329

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

bdangubic wrote: post #316
ceejayoz wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a family plan; the bronze plans are $2400 or so a month. But that means a huge deductible; for a high-needs family, it works out worse financially.

Both my wife and I have been contractors for decade+ and have been with Kaiser and are paying $1.1k/month for Bronze-ish plan (1 child)

How does that work if you have a pre-existing condition? I am honestly curious

Re: The bridge to wealth is being pulled up with AI

#330

Post by anal_reactor »

deaux wrote: post #296
anal_reactor wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But GP likely meant the US or Europe. Reminds me of movies "Aliens attack Earth. By Earth by obviously mean USA. By USA we obviously mean New York City. By New York City we obviously mean Manhattan.". Half of Europe was literally undergoing complete economic collapse in 90's.

Your supposed connection of country-level economic situation and happiness reminds me of this great comment: "I can't stand the conflation of "satisfied" and "happy." It's insane. There is more happiness in one Zimbabwean (country "happiness" rank: 143) than in one hundred Icelanders (country "happiness" rank: 2, worldwide antidepressant consumption rank: 1.) Go stand in a crowd of people and count the fucking smiles…

Hmmmm maybe economic success removes discomforts which removes unhappiness but this means that moments of happiness don't feel as good compared to the baseline. Like, people in rich countries are more stably content, while people in poor countries have more emotional variance over time.
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