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Re:It’s Not China; It’s Efficiency That Is Killing Our Jobs by jcampbell1 on Sunday October 23, 2011 @03:22AM (#3145473)
It already has happened. Modern farmers are as productive as 10,000 peasants. When basic needs are taken care of by machines/robots/automation people move into entertainment/healthcare/service industries. Starbucks, Disney, Hollywood, Facebook, are all businesses that exist because our caloric, shelter, textile needs are easily met.

I look forward to the future. The less effort humans spend making the things we need the more time we can spend creating the things we want.

Re:It’s Not China; It’s Efficiency That Is Killing Our Jobs by mortehu on Sunday October 23, 2011 @08:34AM (#3145960)
> Modern farmers are as productive as 10,000 peasants.

I realize you're exaggerating, but it seems like the real number is more like 10x, and cannot be much more than 120x: http://www.ofac.org/issues/faqs.php

> On average, one average farmer feeds over 120 people today compared to 1900 when one farmer fed about 12 people.

Re:It’s Not China; It’s Efficiency That Is Killing Our Jobs by ippisl on Sunday October 23, 2011 @11:02AM (#3146237)
I think you forgot the fact that we eat food that takes much more work to grow. if we will return to eating mostly rice and beans(like in india for example) - the work in those fields can be highly automated , and i'm pretty sure a farmer can feed a lot more than 120X people with rice and beans.
Re:It’s Not China; It’s Efficiency That Is Killing Our Jobs by wavephorm on Sunday October 23, 2011 @09:10AM (#3146029)
And what does the talentless auto-worker who got laid off do in this robot operated future?

I have a feeling the entertainment in the future will look an awful lot like really bad Youtube videos.