Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two

Re:Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two by drewg123 on Monday February 04, 2019 @07:44PM (#19082160)

We're heading toward a future where more and more is automated and there is less and less room for non-creative work. Let's face it, not everybody can be creative in a way that is lucrative. Do we really want to doom more and more of the population to a subsistence income, while more and more of the gains due to automation go to a shrinking segment of the population? I tend to think that a generous UBI is really the only sensible thing to do.

In case anybody has not read it, Mana, is a short story based on an extrapolation of this kind of rise of automation. I highly recommend it: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

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Re:Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two by mooreds on Tuesday February 05, 2019 @07:49AM (#19084796)

Came here to post the link to manna. Thanks for doing that.

It's important to emphasize that while it seems like our economy is beyond human control, it is a human constructuon and the rules can be changed. They were changed in the late 1800s in the USA by populists and they can be changed again. Not easily, to be sure. But possible.

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Re:Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two by beerlord on Tuesday February 05, 2019 @08:21PM (#19091833)

This has been the case for all of human history. The solution is that the economically unfavoured do not reproduce, and the favoured do. We are all the children of European tribal leaders, kings and nobles thousands of years ago.

Follow this approach, and the problem disappears in one generation. Enact some kind of wealth redistribution or welfare system and the problem will continue to grind on.

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Re:Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two by freewilly1040 on Tuesday February 05, 2019 @11:42AM (#19086943)

Not only is lucrative creative work elusive, _rewarding_ creative work is too. Is it really rewarding to make unremarkable art that no one cares about or consumes? Maybe for some people, but not for most.

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Re:Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two by baroffoos on Monday February 04, 2019 @09:11PM (#19082554)

I think everyone can be creative but most will struggle to monetize their creativity. Maintaining an elaborate garden outside the front of your house requires a great deal of creativity and skill and you could argue that its a benefit to society but it earns the one who put the effort in no money. Some will be able to get jobs as gardeners but there are a limited number of people willing to pay to have a garden maintained.

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