Nope. Everyone has upgraded. Even America's poor are richer than people pre-automation.

Automation has made it possible for cars, cellphones, manufactured goods, air conditioning, running water, etc to be available to everyone.

I don't think it's clear at all that it's better to be a minimum wage button pusher working multiple jobs for a modern lower class life style than it was to be a subsistence farmer. Not to say that either is enviable. But modern comforts are also creating modern horrors.

This is the sort of comment cliched and dishonest. It only muddies the waters of a serious debate.

> Automation has made it possible for;

> cars

We are choking to death on fumes and micro-plastics. CO2 is destroying the planet. The roads are grid-locked. We should be walking more.

> cellphones

We're in a massive global mental health crisis as attention spans plummet and depression soars. Cellphones have ruined family life and turned work in to a 24/7 activity.

> manufactured goods

Our overflowing landfills are spewing methane into the atmosphere from 7 decades of pointless plastic rubbish we make and throw away two weeks later. Nothing we can make lasts.

> air conditioning

Open the window.

> running water

Just No! The Byzantines and Romans had running water. Automation has nothing to do with it.

> Everyone has upgraded.

We work longer hours for less of a stake in society than at any time in history.

You know - I love technology, We really could have done something with it. But we let convenience, greed and vanity be our guides. Just maybe a good start would be to quit with this hopeless mythology and hubris, to actually think critically about the tradeoffs we've made and see just how much harm we're doing to ourselves.

It's kind of astounding to call someone dishonest and then equate air conditioning to opening a window.

Well it took the World Health Organisation, a few hundred medical doctors and PhDs two years to come to the same conclusion. Maybe, I dunno... science?

What the hell are you talking about? Is this some sort of covid ventilation confusion? The primary function of ac is not ventilation.

I feel like a better comparison would be AC vs good quality house design, where we aren't so reliant on AC. AC would still be necessary for some people in some climates, but I know my rental in Australia isn't designed to withstand heat at all, compared to a rental I had in Germany. It's putting an expensive bandaid on something that ought to be fixed in the design stage.

Edit: For context I'm referring to "cheaper/better/faster production" having a negative impact of the quality of housing, which disproportionately impacts renters, who don't have the ability to improve their rented dwelling. Regulation is the only thing that will improve the housing situation for those born too late to buy in the current market.