Comment by rhubarbtree

If one person can do the job of three, then you can keep output the same and reduce headcount, or maintain headcount and improve output etc.

Anecdotally it seems demand for software >> supply of software. So in engineering, I think we’ll see way more software. That’s what happened in the Industrial Revolution. Far more products, multiple orders of magnitude more, were produced.

The Industrial Revolution was deeply disruptive to labour, even whilst creating huge wealth and jobs. Retraining is the real problem. That’s what we will see in software. If you can’t architect and think well, you’ll struggle. Being able to write boiler plate and repetitive low level code is a thing of the past. But there are jobs - you’re going to have to work hard to land them.

Now, if AGI or superintelligence somehow renders all humans obsolete, that is a very different problem but that is also the end of capitalism so will be down to governments to address.