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> There would be no one left doing the sorts of critical jobs that make civilized life possible for us pampered engineers.

I don't think so. If a job is critical for a functional society, "market" will ensure that it will be done. Right now, lots of critical fields have low paying jobs because there is high supply of labor.

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Are you refuting what I'm saying? Or are you making an additional point in my favor? I'm not sure...

Because if high supply of labor means low paying jobs, then you're suggesting that if everybody suddenly became skilled enough to get a high paying job, then those jobs would become low paying jobs due to labor surplus.

Either side of the hypothetical makes it clear that it is absurd to think that everybody can magically be more mobile via shear force of will.

I was commenting on "There would be no one left" part. I don't think that is ever possible for critical jobs. If a job is essential for the society, usually there are enough workers to do it. You are right about this point - if too many people have skills to perform "high paying jobs", those jobs won't remain "high paying" for long.

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