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Comment by femiagbabiaka | Hacker News Reader

The discourse about lost jobs is necessary but a little odd: leveraging VC money and software driven automation to take over sectors ripe for the picking is the startup model in a box.

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I think the point is that society and our economies and particularly people in places of power are not preparing for a world in which automation, AI, and robots rapidly advance to the point where jobs will no longer be needed in many cases, and perhaps one day be a choice not a necessity to even live. It would be better if we prepared for that instead of worshipping jobs as if the point of life is to have a job. The USA is particularly unprepared for this, despite having plenty of wealth to do better. Imagine a workforce half of what we have today. Then figure out a way to have an even better standard of living for everyone. That’s the mission, and it could be possible, unless we measure success of leadership solely by jobs created. People freed from the burden of work would be such a better measurement.

To anyone interested in this topic I highly recommend listening to this lecture John Cage gave at Stanford University in 1992.

John Cage - Overpopulation and Art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzPneYqBLAI

What indications are there that the US will start preparing for this anytime soon? We’ve had decades to share the cost savings from outsourcing to China and failed to do so.

On the other hand, unemploying a large enough segment of society at once might finally force some change in the system, rather than letting it continue limping on in a slow burn where 1-2% of jobs get automated a year.

>On the other hand, unemploying a large enough segment of society at once might finally force some change in the system, rather than letting it continue limping on in a slow burn

Proof of employment required to vote.

And breed.

This shows how little you understand the actual source of power in the world. The vote is a way to keep that source from changing governments, not the actual source.

This mindset is prevalent today, as if people are incapable of changing government without its permission

Thanks brilliant person on HN for correcting me! I see now that repressive measures are never passed in order to deal with what people in power consider destabilizing or problematic issues.

Machines can do the work, so that people have time to think.

https://youtu.be/G3V2n9QtpfE

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