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Comment by 0x000xca0xfe | Hacker News Reader

Except that the industrial revolution managed to mass produce goods of much higher quality and consistency than artisans.

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>much higher quality and consistency than artisans.

Consistency, sure.

Higher quality...? I'll take my artisan bread over Wonder bread, my hand-crafted table over Ikea, etc.

Just looking at the finely woven shirt I'm wearing right now, and I'm sure the average 17th-century artisan was not able to hand-craft something like that.

Textiles is one of the first industries that was impacted by the industrial revolution, so it's unsurprising that the product is now as perfect as it can be. On the other hand I wonder how affordable it would be if it was not produced in low-income countries.

If it's a choice between IKEA vs a carpentry shop, I'll go with the carpenters every time. My childhood bed from 35 years ago is still rock solid compared to the cardboard crap that's "logistically more efficient".

At the cost of human dignity, freedom, and health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk_XylEmLo&t=31s

The first steam engine was worse than a horse (needs coal! and so much water! and tracks! useless, really), I fully expect the first AIs to be worse than a single software engineer.

Consistency, yes. Higher quality? A few things, yes, but for the majority of things, not even close. Mass production makes things cheaper, but at the cost of quality.

No they didn't. A lot of those goods used cancerous chemicals and agents as we know today.

That hot take probably needs a further qualifying statement.

I recommend "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Small artisanal shops before the industrial revolution produced some of the absolutely, truly worst products (poisonous food for example) imaginable (fantastic things, too, of course).

We like to hate on bland industrial mass-produced stuff nowadays but it wasn't all great before.

Before I accept that AI is the next industrial revolution I'd like to see actual, superior, production ready software churned out at a quality the average human developer cannot match. Not just toy products or pelikans on bicycles. Wake me up when AI can one-shot something equivalent to Wordpress in quality and scope. Otherwise it's just another tool in the toolbelt for developers.

Update: Sorry not really sure if I'm mixing up the book with another one. Was a long time ago...

To be clear, I wasn't questioning your statement on AI, but on artisans. One could easily argue that some modern day goods are built to break vs. an artisan that might build something of quality that stands the test of time. Furniture is a good example.

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