Quote:
Originally Posted by zamler
This concern has been raised since automation has existed and feared to diminish human usefulness. The tech will not create and maintain itself, maybe some day but for the foreseeable future not at all. There were some predictions that computers would put millions permanently out of work.
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Yes, but there's reason to believe this time it's different. New technologies and new businesses are not labour-intensive. You only need so many software developers to keep them afloat. Kodak once employed 150,00 people. When Instragram was bought out, it employed less than 20. Google has a valuation bigger than IBM's ever was, and employs a tiny fraction of the number of people IBM employed at its peak. Even in professions like legal, accounting, and medicine, grunt-work is being automated. Five developers can create a product that puts thousands or tens of thousands of out of work.
So what do people transition to? Services? Are our grandchildren all going to be personal trainers and sommeliers? The question there is who's going to have the money for those services if 70 per cent of people are unnecessary to the economy? Maybe each mega-rich innovator and venture capitalist will employ hundreds of lackeys to serve his every need. Doesn't sound like an especially appealing future.