Comment by gavinray
12 hours ago
> Like, what's the point, if the next AI can do it in 5 seconds?
Live a life doing whatever makes you happy.
Post-work society is an inevitability if we don't destroy our planet.
12 hours ago
> Like, what's the point, if the next AI can do it in 5 seconds?
Live a life doing whatever makes you happy.
Post-work society is an inevitability if we don't destroy our planet.
I think you're assuming work's only function is getting things done. Work also is a crowd control tool.
Is it realistic to keep people working jobs that don’t get anything done in the long term? I know most people will say that’s already happening, but imagine a society where basically every job is just a bullshit job made to keep you occupied, do you think people will continue working in a society like that?
Like you foresaw, I'll say this is the reality for most people. I think that just like now, those who want to do meaningful work will seek opportunities to do so.
If we had something like a Maslow’s hierarchy of needs but for work, I think meaningfulness would be the top of the pyramid. For most people in the world, not going hungry or affording housing are reasons enough to do work. Getting to do work you find meaningful is truly a privilege.
Yes, it's realistic. We're at least a couple of generations into this experiment now. Millions of people travel to and from an office to sit on a chair, doing nothing, all day, every day. This in turns keeps a whole bunch of people employed servicing their cars, preparing their food, sweeping the floor behind them etc.
None of these people question whether their jobs are really necessary for the few things we really need: food, shelter, warmth, health etc.
A couple of generations ago most women were employed in the least bullshit job of all: running a household. But now they're all wage slaves too. So yeah, it does work.
If work is needed for "crowd control", why aren't popular holiday destinations crime hotspots?
They are crime hotspots
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Gary Economics wants to have a word with you.
It would be fun to get to post-work society, but hard to imagine atm. TPTB won't let it happen
But how this transition will even happen?
Soon we will have some machines that can replace 50% of jobs, and this will happen basically overnight...
The steam engine replaced a lot of jobs. Tractors replaced a lot of jobs. Calculators replaced a lot of jobs. Computer used to be a job description before it was a personal device. There will be new jobs.
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It won't happen though
Come on, Gary is compulsive liar with zero credibility and really shitty takes. He’s entertaining though.
Good take, I think his view is a bit simplistic. Also he also have a huge ego
"I am the best economist in UK!"
Gary is not a voice worth listening to. A narcissist, fraud and has terrible epistemics.
> Post-work society is an inevitability if we don't destroy our planet.
Is it?
Walk current technological progress down the road.
I can't see a future in which almost every system (both physical and virtual) are not automated and optimized by autonomous entities.
What do you do when everyone is out of a job?
If you don't want pitchforks and riots in the streets, you give everyone UBI and housing so society doesn't collapse.
I’m all for an UBI but a future where people have no purposeful jobs, no way to actually make a real difference to anything around them, is a bleak one.
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> If you don't want pitchforks and riots in the streets, you give everyone UBI and housing so society doesn't collapse.
As much as I’d love UBI to happen, in current geopolitiks it’s a no-go. People are not happy with having what the others have.
Autonomous police drones will likely be able to handle the pitchforkers and rioters
How do you determine who gets the house on the beach? Who gets the mountain view? Who gets stuck with the corner lot on a busy noisy road?
6 replies →
Or you build bunkers and build robots to keep the riffraff out. Shock collars on the guards' necks.
How do you imagine a post work society where people can have inequality? I don't want to be equal. I want to do more.
> Post-work society is an inevitability
Ah yes because these AI companies are just gonna give away the models for free that I use with my free computer and free smartphone while I eat with my free food in my free apartment.
"AI companies" Think about what that means. Also think it through. There will be no "non-AI companies".
Will the AI choose to give you those freebies? It will if you behave.