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Comment by avoutthere | Hacker News Reader

If your workers are doing "fairly basic tasks", why should you be forced to pay them more than their work is worth?

He doesn't pay them how much their work is worth. He pays less, that's how he makes money.

Exactly. I make most of the money, not them. And the day I reduce their hours significantly because I bring AI into the platform -and one day I will-, I will make even more, and they will make even less.

I don't think I am individually wrong to pay market rate for their work, and keep the surplus, but the bigger question is, while nobody is wrong, including AI, where are we going as a society? What will be the consequences?

Yeah I don't think you're individually wrong either, sorry if I came across that way. You're acting rationally in the world that we live in.

I know socialism is a dirty word (especially around here) but I think as a society we need to be open to the possibility of an economy that is fundamentally different from capitalism.

Look at history. One day people will have had enough and they're going to go after you and people like you.

That's very possible. The hard question is "then what?"

If you remove the market economy and ability for people to make money, take initiative and be rewarded for it, and go instead to a pure socialist model/goal, that goes so much against so many human instincts, that it will be hard to have people buying into it. As history shows. And it won't remove AI.

What new system do we propose, or how do we modify the current one, in a globalized, AI-powered world?

Well, considering socialist thought has always relied on automation getting rid of menial, dangerous and other similar jobs, probably socialism. There are many schools of thought for how a market can/could/would work under socialism. Being rewarded for your effort is not outside of that. Instead of using AI to benefit the people at the top (apparently you), an equitable system where AI actually helps humanity as a whole would be required.

Historically, they will also be the ones who still lose in the end.

You could start by just paying them better...

I try to pay well, but it's tough because different countries have different cost of life/income expectations. If I pay $8/hr in the US, I am an asshole and it's illegal in many states. If I pay the same in many countries, am I a generous hero? Shall I differentiate by country? But why, it is the same work!

Should I pay $15/hr all over the world? Is it fair to pay those lucky ones an extra $5-7/hr for no particular reason, or to give that $5 to their respective country via taxes that all can share (healthcare, education, retirement)? Or should I increase my profits, and give it back to the US people through more taxes?

And when AI can do their job, then what? I keep them busy for no reason? Who makes the extra money, only me?

That's how every single profitable business operates. It's not a bad thing, it's a requirement. If a business pays you exactly the value you bring to them, then they do not earn anything from employing you, and have no profits to reinvestment into the business or reward investors for taking the risk of investing in the business. For this reason, not a single person who isn't self-employed ever gets paid "what they are worth". There is "fair market wage", but that is all.

Yeah thanks, I understand how it works. I happen to think it is a bad thing.

Why is it a bad thing? What is the alternative? To have every single person in the world work for themselves? That's really the only other alternative besides not allowing businesses to retain any earnings for growth and expansion.

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