Re:Ask HN: Is it morally right to automate jobs people want?
by chatmasta on Friday April 27, 2018 @08:41AM
(#16940328)
It's not the job that people want. If it were, they would do it for free.
People have needs [0], money allows transacting for those needs, and a job is a vehicle to deliver money. If people could have their needs met without a job, would they still "want" the job that was automated away from them?
What's morally wrong is a society that forces its most vulnerable people to work jobs that can be done by machines, leaving those people no time to improve their skills or standing in the world, trapping them in a permanently disadvantaged social stratum.
People have needs [0], money allows transacting for those needs, and a job is a vehicle to deliver money. If people could have their needs met without a job, would they still "want" the job that was automated away from them?
What's morally wrong is a society that forces its most vulnerable people to work jobs that can be done by machines, leaving those people no time to improve their skills or standing in the world, trapping them in a permanently disadvantaged social stratum.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs