Which is wonderful - we got much cheaper telephone calls, and eventually women were able to learn more useful skills and work on more critical work where they’re required.
Automation is fantastic.
Stopping wealth accumulation, high barriers of entry and risk for entrepreneurs (e.g. hassle and bureaucracy filing extra taxes, getting separate bank accounts, data privacy protections, high cost of living / properties, high interest rates, etc.) and providing free, widespread access to education are the real problems that need to be solved.
As someone who’s started a couple businesses, the separate taxes and bank accounts weren’t that bad. The biggest barrier to entry is your first point, which is wealth accumulation. The ultra wealthy have cornered so many markets it’s virtually impossible to get a start in most industries.
Have a feeling we’ll see a lot more “and then it got automated”
Which is all bs. Why should unnecessary jobs exist?
Sure. Except the wealth and productivity increases will not benefit society but the few wealthy capitalists that own it
We have 3 paths forward:
- liberal capitalist solution (à la Tucker Carlson): ban AI and allow workers to do bullshit jobs
- alternative liberal capitalist solution: let excess workers die in the streets because they’re no longer needed for production
- socialist solution: distribute the means of production (AI in this case) so we can share equitably in its output
I’d advocate for the socialist one, it sounds like you might be more in line with Tucker Carlson’s thinking here?
Not at all. I support, from your options, the socialist solution.
AI should free people to do other things. It should benefit the people - if AI can automate 50% of all jobs, rather than just throwing all of those people to the street, we should expect to have to work less without a reduction in income. Thats AI benefiting society. Instead, that 50% reduction in labour and costs just fills the pockets of CEOs and shareholders, without any care for people now out of work.
Also - fuck carlson. guy is a cunt
This is a black and white fallacy and a loaded question. There are more options, blends of options, and circumstances that make different options better for some groups. The two first options are also “bullshit” or “dying,” which doesn’t give the party making a decision a rational choice.
Everything benefits wealthy capitalists that own everything. The solution is not to keep people in shitty jobs.
I absolutely agree, but it isn’t an issue with automation in itself, but rather the political system that doesn’t allow to correct that issue.
So, racism, misogyny, radical christian nationalism. Got it.
“The company refused to hire Black operators until 1944, immigrants rarely got hired, and some exchanges barred Jewish women too. But for white, gentile, American-born women, especially young and unmarried women (as women often left the labor force after marriage, and married women faced discrimination in hiring), connecting calls at the switchboard was a common way to make a living.”
A great reminder that to do things “for jobs” is always a terrible argument.
