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economic disruption - do you think this time is different?
229 sats \ 3 comments \ @stack_harder 12h AskSN
Often, when the topic of tech disrupting an existing society, people will say, people will just transition to the new thing, instead of making horse buggy whips, they'd make car parts etc
But quite honestly, I don't see how that will pan out this time because AI can obsolete a ton of different jobs in all kinds of sectors. Maybe 20 years ago you could switch up jobs without too much fuss, but now we have tons of jobs offshored as well.
I used to work as a translator, for example, and while there is still work for it and interpreting, it's just far less money, harder, and suckier overall. Most people will use gpt and Google Translate, and it's good enough for most things, especially gpt where you can get it to write in certain styles etc
I don't know , personally i feel like making a living will just get a lot harder, and I find it hard to imagine where all the adjacent / replacement jobs will come from
What do you think? if you think it's actually a bright future, share which areas you think will blow up and create opportunity so i can research it. I'm legitimately quite scared for my kids, although I stack for them and they have a place to live, so that's at least something to base off.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 36m
I know how you feel.
I comfort myself with the thought that in the past, when there's been this kind of transformation (mechanical looms, automobiles, tractors, computers, internet), people could just not imagine what kind of jobs would replace the lost jobs. They thought there would be massive permanent unemployment, but there wasn't. The lost jobs WERE replaced with other jobs.
Is AI all that different? I think our wants will just expand. Not that I can necessarily predict WHAT exactly will come up.
But personally, I'm advocating for my kids, that they get seriously into AI, and use it regularly.
Ideally, this is not just asking AI to do schoolwork. Instead, it's creating different AI experiences, writing your own AI tools. It's a wide open world, and those people that are skilled in AI will do well. And hopefully other people as well.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 7h
All these tech developments tend to increase our overall productivity and wealth. But they also tend to concentrate wealth and increase inequality. If you believe in a purist free market philosophy then the outlook would be much greater inequality even though overall wealth and prosperity increase. Communism and Socialism tried to address this problem in the 19th century with the first industrial revolution...with mixed results. The outcome was that a mixed economy with some government intervention but also free markets worked best. Again with the post industrial economy of high tech it seems likely that a mixed economy approach might work best. If there is no regulation and wealth redistribution then the tendency would again be for very concentrated wealth and power in the hands of the few who control the algorithms while the vast majority will be relatively disadvantaged. Bitcoin is a fascinating exception to the rule by being a decentralised model where there is no owner, no central controller and where instead every participant is treated equally without fear or favour. Bitcoin provides a glimpse of what might be possible, in contrast to the more dystopian future where private owners of algorithms (Uber, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon etc) increasingly control the masses and hold power equal to or greater than governments.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Paterfull 10h
I think as old jobs start getting replaced by AI and stuff, new job types will open. As some people say we are in a kind of second Industrial revolution.
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