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Comment by uberdeveloper | Hacker News Reader

Mediocre people are getting pushed out. This is a good thing for the efficiency of the economy.

By definition, "mediocre people" make up approx. 66% of the workforce. We are supposed to celebrate their inability to make a living?

I thought "mediocre" was the middle one third, rather than the middle two thirds? ;)

Not sure if you're kidding, but GP is referring to area of the one-sigma region around mean for a normal distribution (see: bell curve) in relation to the total area (68ish percent of total), which is usually where the "normal" people live. It seems the popular understanding in soft sciences is that distribution of talent/ability/other human metric seems to follow a normal distribution.

Well if the trend is right, and continues, it means future generations will have to have education and a society that by default works in a critical thinking - always learning - always thinking kind of mode. This could be huge for humanity. I think it's mostly culture and societal norms that dictate the normal modes of thinking, and that most people can do just fine if they are brought up in the right environment. The other option is some kind of transformation or crash, or that technology fails somehow and crashes. Or? Well it could be a very bright future if the conditions are right and the planet allows it

A lot of people talk like humans are made to serve the economy, not the other way around.

If "the efficiency of the economy" really demands that an increasing number of people be unable to support themselves, that would mean that it's time to tear down the existing economy and replace it with something that works properly. is that what you want?

Until they go after the non-mediocre with pitchforks, torches and guillotines. It's not like history lacks precedents.

If history is a teacher, there is usually a small cadre of non-mediocre people running the show.

Where are they getting pushed out to? If you can't vaporize them (and you can't) what happens?

The failure of hubris isn't necessarily in obnoxiousness. It's in shortsightedness.

Still, it's pretty obnoxious, too. There are a LOT of highly paid software developers with huge egos that think they are inherently special. I guarantee if we figure out how to better automate software development, they will be changing their tune, and quick. They (and I) just happen to be very fortunate to work in an industry that rewards our talents very highly.

It might be, but it's probably not a good thing for the people who get pushed out.

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