Advanced democracies, having weathered the COVID pandemic and currently dealing with adjustments in the world of work [think 'gig' and work from home,] would do well to prepare for a new wave of job eliminations as AI programs become more and more sophisticated. We've already seen what automation did to production lines. Applications of AI will extend the ability of companies to reduce their workforces still further. What is to be done with people who have been made redundant should be considered by some of our brightest and best. Thoughts? Regards, stay safe 'n well.
It is an excellent question of great importance, to which you will more likely than not be rewarded with little to no interest from this tribalized board. The simplistic proposition of "re-education and education" does not resolve the problem that many of the jobs AI threatens already require a high degree of education. Education that is not free of either the time the person puts into the education, nor the money required to pay for said education. Education that the younger generation in those fields doubtless have just recently undergone. Demanding individuals pile even more debt, expense, and time upon themselves simply to stay relevant is an inadequate examination of the problem. Put another way, if technology continues to advance quickly enough that one must undergo reeducation to remain a relevant and a contributing member of the labor force, how many times and with what frequency would be considered too often? I am not certain what a good solution is, but I suspect an ideal solution would include an attempt to move society towards an ownership model of primary wealth creation instead of a labor model. AI, automation, and new technologies will continuously disrupt the later, but may be harnessed to promote stability among the former.
I'm not convinced that is the primary concern. While there will likely be changes and reductions in workforce in a number of fields, I'm not convinced AI (or any related technology) is going to be replacing large swathes of any general employee group in the foreseeable future, just as automation hasn't eliminated jobs in supermarkets, fast food or warehouses. I think there has long been a wider issue across the developed world of failing to really account for any medium-to-long term changes in employment patterns with focus on education and training to support them. That boils down to the classic problem of politicians only being interested in the time until their next election. This is likely to impact the details but it doesn't change the underlying principles.
i'm fairly certain that there was a similar sentiment at the advent of the industrial age. instead of forcing millions into unending poverty, it created an entirely new marketplace for labor and new products and services that employed those pushed out by that new technology. it won't be easy. old farts like me will never fit into the new workforce, but most of us are beyond working age anyway. the only major stumbling block for this switch to a new labor marketplace is the ridiculous cost of education. our primary education, more concerned with social indoctrination than actual education, has failed to keep up with our technology and students are leaving school not only illiterate, but unprepared for the world into which they are emerging. the educational system tries to sidestep its failure by claiming that this is what college is for, but those ivory tower institutions have priced themselves out of the market for those most in need of further education.
More people can just become influencers and sell merch. Make money that way. Everyone can just trade worthless tshirts back and forth and tip each other during live streams with their unemployment checks. Think some might be rethinking their degrees in philosophy and gender studies. Might want to go into electrical or plumbing.
during 2008 i said i would even apply for Chit shoveler in shanghi, many of the displaced are recent re-educated IMO, its automation and wont go away in our strictly dollar centered economy
look down the road after ubi and you find authoritarian societies of stagnation and despair. being paid simply for eating and sh*ting leads only to a species divided into two separate classes, the indolent masses and those who decide what those masses lives are worth.
we dont know for sure what anything leads to but automation is coming, our partys now are divided beween the empire based business model of the right, and the human rights enlightned left model...they will have serious issues that we are beging to see, im glad im nearly 70
i see your nearly seventy years haven't taught you nearly enough. this whole right/left thing is a false paradigm that only the ignorant still adhere to. empire based business model and human rights enlightened model? what kind of crap is that? there is nothing enlightened about the dependent "left" and its authoritarian leaders and empire may be in the minds of the establishment "right", but conservatism is more about the individual than about simply "business" and accruing wealth. society is far more complex than these simplistic notions that the media has conveniently placed in the minds of the ignorant. i have no crystal ball, but history and human nature inform us that the indolence of the masses is a powerful force. we've watched as the welfare state has created generational dependence and the very concept of ubi can only expand on that precedent. those that control the flow of funds will become the masters and those who collect it will become the slaves, this is simply a matter of human nature. the electorate may have "some" say in the process, but the illusion of any increase in their allowance will always keep them from truly taking control of their own destiny. automation has always been coming. industrialism abolished the need for mindless labor, but created a need for slightly more skilled labor. the assembly line curtailed the expansion of craftsmanship, but it didn't entirely destroy it and created a new labor marketplace for the marginally educated. are you starting to see a pattern here? in every case it is education that is the key. not the post secondary education that only a few can afford, but the basic survival skills that are the responsibility of any even remotely enlightened society.
Hi, HonestJoe. Thank you for your reasoned response. AI may well nibble away at the workforce rather than wipe out large identifiable groups. Consider the more advanced spelling check programs and those who make a living as proofreaders. Or, for that matter, those writers who write 'plain pipe rack' prose. I really think you've hit it. And you're right about re-training programs. A person is a terrible thing to waste, yet we as a society continue to let people fall through the cracks. A pleasure reading your response, btw. Regards, stay safe 'n well.
i based my simple model on the fact wallstreet firm brownbrothers harriman and staff/clients basicly became our CIA foriegn policy experts who supported the right wing attempt to take down FDR and a slew of hostile country takeovers in favor of fascist dictators VS the lefts documented history of support for minoritys, i understand clinton put a blip in the lefts radar screen...the whole way of running the world needs to be scraped
The leftist are scared because nobody can force the kind of education people are going to need. The news media is fake enough now, but just wait until it is entirely fictional. People are going to flip out.
We're having a hard enough time educating kids. What makes you think that we can re-educate someone that's been doing the same job for 30-40 years? And lets face it, many people that do the jobs that will (and are) be taken over by automation and advanced AI simply do not have the mental capacity to learn how to do the more advanced jobs that will be required as tech advances. Note: That includes kids who still have a mind fresh enough to learn new things. What's to be done with those people?
