Comment by weitendorf
3 days ago
When my parents were my age, there were almost no jobs working with distributed systems or robotics and the relative standard of living was much worse than what I have been able to attain at a similar age and level of education.
My grandparents performed jobs that now are rarely performed in the US due to there being better jobs for those qualified to perform them.
I am much happier working with AI and distributed systems than as a carpenter or steel mill foreman like my grandfathers. Everybody on my father's side of the family had these white marks all over their forearms from molten metal splashing on them and burning them as they worked.
This is only possible because of technological progress. It creates new jobs.
Same.
My grandfather was a sailor, then cook. Father drives a taxi. Mom is a seamstress. Stepdad worked at the same factory for 65 years. As I was coming of age in the 90s, they chastised me for spending all my time in front of the computer. Yet here I am still sitting in front of one, making more money than they could've ever imagined.
Society progresses whether or not you want it.
Bad times and golden eras do happen. Yet we only get one lifetime, which can fit entirely inside one or the other.
It's entirely rational to worry we're in the midst of a bad time for many, possibly even most as the median slips into the lower class.
My grandfather lived in a golden era. Worked as a cookie salesmen/stocker to earn a pension and got the GI bill even though he was never deployed. He retired in his mid 60s with two homes, motor boat and dock (used every summer weekend), two cars, a healthy stock portfolio, and had raised four kids.
My father needed a college degree but otherwise did nearly as well.
I had to go to college and will likely never afford two homes, much less a boat, no defined benefit pension, taxable social security with higher age threshold and reduced benefit, little retirement savings, have been laid off, had to change jobs repeatedly to get raises, trying to raise half as many kids, and have already begun supporting extended family members. It's also very possible my career will cease to exist, or become a niche role with crushing oversupply of labor for many years to come.
Modern work may be more interesting for those who can get it. Increasing specialization does leave behind folks of below average ability. Underemployment is also a thing when labor is disorganized and demand is low.
While it might create new jobs, I don’t think what it affords you would be better.
Take the gig economy for example. There has been a rapid uptick of it taking a slice of the labor pie. If the majority of labor shifted to that, you’ll have plenty of new jobs but your quality of life will be substantially worse.