[bmir-alum-007]

> If humans are being replaced with computers, then there will be need for fewer managers, supervisors etc. This would cause a decline in demand for people with "human skills" also.

Lower demand of workers and over-supply of candidates = employers' market = greater expectations placed on workers for lower pay. This would change nice-to-have attributes of excellent candidates from nice-to-have to compulsory as workers have to be even more perfect just to keep their job against the 100 other people lined up ready to take it from them. Besides, if there are 3 equally-qualified people with people skills and 5 without, it's a no brainer because the non-people-skilled folks are liabilities: they can kill the team dynamic, put people off and waste time & money (finding new coworkers to replace those that left whom will put up with their antics, finding new customers/vendors/partners/etc. that they put off, etc.). I know of a number of first-hand cases where some arrogant developers were passed over for hiring consideration at a successful enterprise startup because it was clear they would be too difficult to work with.

In labor markets with a foreseeable overabundance of talent, the future of work may include a number of people willing to work even longer for free, far longer than internships, simply to showcase their chops, get real experience and edge out other candidates/employees. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but it certainly seems headed down that path.

[1971genocide]

Its not a simple equilibrium as you make out to be. No one at this point can predict what automation will do to the workforce.

I find it hyperbolic that off all people programmers are most paranoid of automation. Did commodity C compiler make compiler designer obsolete ?

what will happen is productivity is going to shoot up for your average person on a per dollar basis.

A bioinformatician can outproduce 10 farmers , etc.

There is no shortage of things to do on the planet. There are still 3.5 billion people living on 10 dollars a day, have some perspective.

We can take about the robotic dystopian future when we have succefully homed,clothed and fed every person on the planet. Also provide free healthcare for everyone. I can go on but this terrible paranoia about automation needs to stop before you let animalistic emotions stop progression of science and technology.

[kefka]

And why people are so scared about automation even here is:

They know our current way of splitting up wealth and resources is not sustainable. Capitalism itself calls for lowering costs and beating "opposition's prices". This in turn leads to a downward spiral.

Automation is inevitable. And that itself is not a bad thing. What is bad, are the people it displaces, and the resulting lack of money to pay for rent/utilities/necessities/extras. People in the US are still scared by the socialist and communist boogeyman, in that they won't look at those systems and ideas as tools.

So yes. Automation+capitalism = poor.

[s73v3r]

"what will happen is productivity is going to shoot up for your average person on a per dollar basis."

For your average EMPLOYED person. Whether or not most people will be employed is yet to be seen.

"We can take about the robotic dystopian future when we have succefully homed,clothed and fed every person on the planet."

That dystopian future is the reason why we aren't doing that, mainly because those with all the money don't want to bother doing it.