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America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

washingtonpost.com

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Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#711

Post by greedo »

bluGill wrote: post #68
keiferski wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess most of these jobs don’t allow for music or YouTube to be used during work? I’m just thinking that people already spend a lot of time just consuming content, so if it were possible to watch YouTube while at the factory, maybe it wouldn’t be as unpopular.

Music might be allowed - though the factory is often loud enough that it isn't really practical. You still need to be able to hear the safety signals though. YouTube cannot be allowed - you need to be ready to work when the line moves the next part to you. There are also safety concerns with watching youtube instead of the various hazards which are always there.

If the factory is so loud that listening to music isn't practical, the workers should have hearing protection that would limit the effectiveness of safety signals...

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#712

Post by greedo »

carlosjobim wrote: post #75
snozolli wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there are jobs people just won’t keep doing no matter the pay I do not believe this common claim.

Theoretically, an utterly horrible job with great pay would attract a lot of workers who do it for some time to get a financial boost before moving on.

When I was young, it was popular to go up to Alaska for the season and either work the fishing boats or the canning factories.

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#713

Post by CableNinja »

loire280 wrote: post #438
yxhuvud wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rather think of the maintenance nightmare. You can't change anything - not cause the existing system is good but because there are no people left that understand the whole thing. But then I've got a few years to reach 50. Perhaps my views will change.

Every software company I've worked at that is more than 5 years old had major features that nobody understood anymore, even features that were core to the product.

Dont forget the critical software that keeps the company going that someone dealt with long ago, and was left to rot when they left, only for someone to discover it and have to go on an archeology dig to find info and improve upon it.

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#714

Post by vonneumannstan »

Knork-and-Fife wrote: post #616
toephu2 wrote: post #599

What many Americans don't realize is that China has already surpassed the United States in terms of development (developing country vs developed country sense of the word). Obviously both are 'developed' countries at this point but compare Chinese tier 1 cities vs American tier 1 cities. I would argue Chinese tier 1 cities are 10-20 years ahead of their American counterparts. source: visit any Chinese tier 1 city (Be…

I agree with your assessment on the high end of China's development and the lack of awareness of that from people in the US. But I think the story on the low end /lower class is more interesting and I think there is lack of awareness there too. Even within the US a lot of upper class people don't know what it's like for lower class people here. It's so easy to slip into homelessness because there aren't reasonable op…

As someone living in a city with a significant homelessness problem I think this comment misses the point. The vast majority of homelessness in the US is not people falling on hard times and needing a boost to get back into a home. They are drug addicts or the mentally ill. A completely different problem that also needs to be addressed. Few other nations that I can see allow blatantly mentally ill to roam their streets or let people do drugs openly on the streets...

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#715

Post by cestith »

sharadov wrote: post #524
giancarlostoro wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always chuckle at how Python became the dominant language for AI / ML / data science etc but wonder why it is that Fortran and Python became the golden combo, it could have been done with any other language, no complaints, I love Python, but its just amusing to me.

I found R a better language for Data Science, somehow Python won out.

People don’t generally care about the best language. They care about a passable language with the best library access and great support (either commercially or via the community, but preferably both).

I’m not even fond of Python, but I use it sometimes because things exist for it to use and because there are lots of developers around who can share the work on the code. If I write something in R, APL, Julia, OCaml, Forth, Scheme, or Lisp at work I’m going to be the only maintainer and will probably get a stern lecture about that. If I use Perl, Ruby, Java, or PHP, there are a few more people but it’d better be code only my team has to maintain. Go, Rust, C, C++, TypeScript, maybe JavaScript, and Python are safe in most of the company’s codebases but only C, C++, or Rust for the code that needs the most performance and the most stability of resource use.

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#716

Post by dragonwriter »

cestith wrote: post #715
sharadov wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found R a better language for Data Science, somehow Python won out.

People don’t generally care about the best language. They care about a passable language with the best library access and great support (either commercially or via the community, but preferably both). I’m not even fond of Python, but I use it sometimes because things exist for it to use and because there are lots of developers around who can share the work on the code. If I write something in R, APL, Julia, OCaml, Fo…

> People don’t generally care about the best language. They care about a passable language with the best library access and great support (either commercially or via the community, but preferably both).

Moreover, to the extent that they care about the “best” (or at least “better” within the scope of options with suitable ecosystems) language, “best”/“better” is highly subjective and shaped very much by familiarity

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#717

Post by cestith »

ACCount37 wrote: post #570
Scarblac wrote: post #550

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, it's global warming. Because fossil fuel is stupid useful and there's no way we're going to stop burning it. And then we get to the climate scenarios that aren't compatible with our current sophisticated civilization, even with the currently accepted climate science (that always seems to underestimate what actually happens).

Global warming just isn't harmful enough to pose a credible extinction risk. The damage is too limited and happens far too slowly. Even the unlikely upper end projections aren't enough to upend the human civilization - the harms up there at the top end are "worse than WW2", but WW2 sure didn't end humankind. At the same time: the ever-worsening economics of fossil fuel power put a bound on climate change even in a "n…

Climate change could lead to a massive world war over arable land and potable water. It could also make wildfires more common and more damaging. It will make cyclonic storms stronger. This may not be extinction level, but could be a major pressure on population numbers.

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#718

Post by tracker1 »

basisword wrote: post #709
tracker1 wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, nobody in the US is working on that at all... https://www.boringcompany.com/

Where's the high speed rail then? Tunnelling isn't the difficult part.

We have cars... privacy, freedom of movement, independence, flexibility. If you need faster, there are aircraft for that.

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#719

Post by tracker1 »

herbst wrote: post #700
tracker1 wrote: post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the US has far fewer people far more spread out, with two major sets of mountain ranges just in the continental US probably not. It might be possible to have high speed rail on either coast with a single rail line following along a route near I-10 east=west. Even then it's a lot of nature to overcome.

This is a very lazy excuse that always comes up. Even Russia has a better train connection and it's even less dense.

So Russia's population centers are on opposite ends of the country?

Re: America is getting an AI gold rush instead of a factory boom

#720

Post by BeFlatXIII »

Bratmon wrote: post #126
ryandrake wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why people romanticize 1950-style manufacturing jobs so much, like they are some kind of objectively ideal job. These jobs really weren't great. Bunch of dudes standing at an assembly line all day physically busting their asses and sweating it out. Sometimes in a physically hazardous environment. Sometimes breathing stinky and/or harmful chemicals. Sometimes surrounded by ear-damaging loud noises. Someti…

Manufacturing jobs are mostly unionized and service jobs aren't. Americans actually want unions back, but because anti-union propaganda is so prevalent, they confused themselves into thinking they want manufacturing jobs back

Part of the decline in union jobs is that loyalty (on both sides) is dead. It's hard to unionize a transient workforce.
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