Comment by jansho | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jansho | Hacker News Reader

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The button pusher I think is a bad example. There are not many button pushers, for one, and secondly when we talk about the current industrial revolution, it's about machines replacing humans who are doing jobs with some skills. And there are many such jobs, like operating machinery in factories, and consequently many livelihoods depending on them.

Arguably replacing these jobs with machines is also too fast for any kind of proper transition. You can say "Move elsewhere then!" but as some have already pointed out, this is not always so simple. And, say that the machine revolution does happen world over, where exactly can you find jobs that match your skillsets? Don't forget the many others who will also try the same.

Absolutely, education and a social security net will help with the transition. But in reality, these two are often not an option for many people, and I doubt that the government can supply them in the same speed as the change itself. I fear that we'll have massive social unrest in the near future.

The root of the problem is the idea that you must be productively employed. It's a fallacy, and everything else that follows from it (like this notion that optimizations are bad because they result in fewer skilled jobs) are wrong for the same reasons.

Unfortunately, it's a fallacy with very strong social support. Including, ironically, these very people who are hurt most by it.

It might be a fallacy for you or I but there are some people who really struggle without the structure of a job in their lives.

And there are some people who can't cope with the structure of a job. both need to be dealt with - there are always structured jobs that can be done, volunteering at a museum for example.

Doesn't change the fact that if we can automate a job, espeicially if we can improve things at the same time, that's good.

We used to spend 90% of our energy growing enough food for our family to eat. This is far less now, and that allows us to devote more time to other pursuits. That's a good thing for mankind, as is automating any job.

If you don't think replacing people with robots is good, I assume you're against things like ansible, or kickstart, or computers in general.

If you don't think replacing people with robots is good

You are putting lots of words in my mouth there.

There seems to be an implicit assumption here that a job is the only way to give life structure. What is the evidence for that?

There is no such assumption, I did preface my comment with "you or I".

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