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Can we have the day off?

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Re: Can we have the day off?

#791

Post by childintime »

dannersy wrote: post #694
thunky wrote: post #688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I am okay with Alzheimer's not being cured if it means we are not bending over backwards to welcome a billionaire overlord class What a cold perspective. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

It is cold for me to not want to concede everything to billionaires to cure a disease? You are short sighted, as I would argue the reverse is cold.

Billionaires? We're basically talking about the first 10 trillionaire, Elon Musk, and the inauguration of the supervillain category. He'll hold a majority stake in his soon to be Skynet empire SpaceXAI+Tesla. Which means he'll put lasers in space to control access, as he needs to prevent the Kessler syndrom, as that's the only way to take him down. So he'll want repressive governments. He'll give them the mark of the beast to solve their problem, those pesky humans need to behave better, and it'll be dandy like an iPhone was, progress! The other billionaires? He can darth vader them at will. We're seeing the coup first hand and we're blind to it. No government can wipe him out, as his empire stretches into the universe.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#792

Post by fg137 »

tasuki wrote: post #701
Chinjut wrote: post #472

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of us do not particularly enjoy the work our employer has us do, nor believe in what the company we work for is trying to achieve. It's not like we get to choose its aims, and it's not like we have alternatives where we get to do so either. Our lives are spent working on someone else's goals.

> and it's not like we have alternatives where we get to do so either. You can and should choose your employers. Saying you have no alternatives is disingenious. It's possible (and often worth it) to trade a big salary for meaning. My employer significantly underpays us compared to the market, we could be (and many had been) earning multiple times more elsewhere, and yet we're happy to work there: we get reimbursed b…

> You can and should choose your employers.

In theory yes, but lots and lots of people will tell you how hard it is to switch jobs in real life, especially with personal circumstances.

A very simple example -- depending on your location, there can be very few employers you can choose from. Relocatiob is a major life decision.

Just talk to a few people, and that should be obvious.

Regarding the point in GP -- you can bet that most Meta employees don't believe in the company's vision, and they are just there for the (very good) paycheck. They are likely employable but choose not to.

Source: direct contacts

Re: Can we have the day off?

#793

Post by therealdrag0 »

danans wrote: post #724
mil22 wrote: post #333

Effective working hours are not set by absolute productivity - they are set by an equilibrium between two forces: 1. Competitive market dynamics. If you only work four days a week, other employees and companies who are willing to work five days a week will do so and get ahead of you, and you are more likely to get fired or to go out of business. This force pushes us all to work longer (and harder) so we have more mon…

> assuming we're all 10x more productive - we'll still be working 5 days and enjoying 2 days a week, but we'll consume 10x more, or everything we consume will be 10x higher quality Who is "we all"? To me, it sounds like the relative few who happen to have those jobs that have the 10x productivity boost but also receive the monetary upside (via ownership). The rest of the hard-to-automate jobs will likely see their wa…

You’re speculating about the effects of AI specifically but responding to a comment is about productivity generally. Historically we’ve seen massive productivity gains, and yet we’re all still here working.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#794

Post by maplethorpe »

NietTim wrote: post #657
maplethorpe wrote: post #650

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not really following. Why is the problem you mentioned no longer a problem? Did your workplace change the way it plans projects now that AI is here?

Planning is the same, implementation time is just way shorter, so we can spend more time on things that are fun. The barrier to see if some outlandish idea works is also nonexistent now, you can generate a (non production ready, of course) MVP in an hour, where before it would take a few days.

These MVPs aren't used to plan projects at all? They're just fun things your job lets you make on the side? What sort of work do you do?

Re: Can we have the day off?

#795

Post by jfil »

Tade0 wrote: post #645
throwaway63467 wrote: post #601

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s been like that for a while, economic gains went to a small fraction of people, before software developers were among those that were on the winning side, now they’re on the losing side. Think about how much the US economy is growing right now and who really profits from that growth. My guess is that 90 % of the growth goes to 10 % of people, with AI maybe 99 % might go to the 1 %. Or who do you think will gain f…

> And the funny thing is we developers did this to ourselves, by doing free open source work for the greater good, which now feeds AI models that are replacing many of us. Open source is not to blame here. AI companies used the code, in some cases against the license, to train their models. Nobody is actually getting replaced - it's just that layoffs are in vogue now. If there was productivity to gain here, it would…

Well, none of the AI-generated code now seeping into those companies' codebase is copyrightable. So we're about to see a lot more free-use code hit the scene, when the chickens come home to roost. (Not the same as open source, but still a shakeup of the current status)

Re: Can we have the day off?

#796

Post by stephen_g »

November_Echo wrote: post #630
testing22321 wrote: post #582

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia no problem. Most liberal welfare in the world

> Australia no problem. Most liberal welfare in the world Jobseeker is a maximum of $26k per year, but for most people it's going to be around $21k [1]. What else are you using supplement that because that feels like it would be close to the poverty line. 1: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/how-much-jobseeker-paym...

It’s not close to the poverty line, it’s well under it (remember this is AUD not USD) and has been for decades!

Re: Can we have the day off?

#797

Post by stemlord »

fendy3002 wrote: post #525
BirAdam wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could likely get some funding for a PAC based around this. You just have to get Altman, Musk, and the other to realize that it’s a good marketing move. “Our AI is so awesome and boosts productivity so much that no one has to work another 5 day week, ever again.”

benefits for the commoner? not in a million years they will support that

Musk supported the pretense of free speech online when he bought the bird website. Again, it's just letting them see the marketing benefit, not convincing them to actually care (assuming that's impossible)

Re: Can we have the day off?

#798

Post by stephen_g »

testing22321 wrote: post #582
yladiz wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which European countries?

Australia no problem. Most liberal welfare in the world

Unemployment (JobSeeker payment) is actually pretty brutal here, we have a thing called ‘mutual obligation requirements’ where you have to go to meetings with (very ineffective but extremely profitable) private job service providers who force you to apply for enough jobs per week (no matter if they’re relevant or not).

Decades ago there was what I have read was an extremely effective Government department called the ’Commonwealth Employment Services’ but that was disbanded and contracts handed to private firms for excuses like “efficiency” that (surprise) didn’t end up panning out.

Re: Can we have the day off?

#799

Post by Gooblebrai »

abletonlive wrote: post #753
forcedtolinux wrote: post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you personally are winning, but 500k comp is an outlier and not the norm, especially now

You don't understand what I'm saying. I'm saying the 500K comp is not worth it and i want to quit to go compete against all the employers that are offering such comp. I am positioning myself to do it this year. Software engineers have more leverage than ever.

Software engineers with a network and sales skills

Re: Can we have the day off?

#800

Post by dannersy »

childintime wrote: post #791
dannersy wrote: post #694

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is cold for me to not want to concede everything to billionaires to cure a disease? You are short sighted, as I would argue the reverse is cold.

Billionaires? We're basically talking about the first 10 trillionaire, Elon Musk, and the inauguration of the supervillain category. He'll hold a majority stake in his soon to be Skynet empire SpaceXAI+Tesla. Which means he'll put lasers in space to control access, as he needs to prevent the Kessler syndrom, as that's the only way to take him down. So he'll want repressive governments. He'll give them the mark of the…

True. The techno optimists seem to think it is justified for a chance to cure a disease.
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