Re:Learning Dexterity
by visarga on Tuesday July 31, 2018 @12:18AM
(#17650504)
No, what you're failing to understand is that the cell phone has created new opportunities even for the poorest people of the world. It opens up commerce, payments, short time borrowing, education, hiring, finding a spouse and many other things that lead to a successful life. On the whole it was a boon for humanity - in other words, it was worse for all of us, rich or poor, before it existed.
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The world may very well be a better place and frankly saving people from work is actually a good thing. But I disagree with the idea that the computer/mobile/AI revolution is adding more jobs than it takes away. There are not more app developers than their were factory laborers.
Most people would be surprised that US manufacturing is at the highest level in history. And they are surprised because manufacturing employment is at the lowest levels.
Is it good that Americans are not doing highly physically demanding manufacturing jobs? Sure. But what are the long term consequences of productivity without people? Every industry is more productive with drastically fewer people and they're improving on that equation every day. Not just factories but also white collar office work too. When self-driving vehicles become the norm, a massive amount of people will no longer have jobs.