[btbuildem]

Assisting or caring for others is not a low-skill job! It may not require a doctorate in theoretical physics, but it requires a lot of emotional intelligence, stamina and ability to be present with other people. It's far from routine!

This immediate nitpick aside - I think it's great that routine task jobs are going away. The bulk of those are mind-numbing, dead-end jobs - do we really need to keep subjecting people to 40h/wk routine boredom?

[Dain42]

I completely agree. My grandmother is in the Alzheimer's wing at her local nursing home, and I cannot begin to understand how the staff can do their jobs day after day. It's almost like running a daycare for elderly people.

They are so kind, and helpful, both to residents and their families, and they are just so superb at what are really difficult jobs. They deserve much more than most of them are making. They're some of the higher-paying jobs in the town, but relatively speaking, they're not high-paying.

Back when I was in middle and high school, my other grandmother was in the same home, though not in the Alzheimer's wing, and they seemed to take really good care of her, too. I wasn't as cognizant of it at the time, but talking to my parents and looking back, I can see that it's the case.

I know that I couldn't do their job.

[tetraodonpuffer]

what if you want a mind-numbing dead-end job so you can spend your mental energy before/after work learning something else? Plenty of stories of people working a crappy job for a few years and after hours going to school or writing a book or learning a trade or starting a music career.

What happens if "crappy jobs" are not available anymore and all the available jobs require 1) non trivial credentials and 2) enough mental energy that after work you are "done" and can't do anything else? And what happens to people that are only capable of dealing with a routine task job?

Until there is something like universal income routine jobs seem to be the lesser evil, because the odds of universal income coming into being in our lifetimes seem pretty low, and having something to fall back on to pay the bills while you figure out what to do with your life can be quite helpful.

[JeremyNT]

> This immediate nitpick aside - I think it's great that routine task jobs are going away. The bulk of those are mind-numbing, dead-end jobs - do we really need to keep subjecting people to 40h/wk routine boredom?

Sure, it's great that we are gaining this capability, and the people working towards it should be lauded for their progress. The issue is that many people rely on the ability to exchange 40h/wk of routine boredom for the basic necessities of living.

Our society assumes that most people will contribute enough value from their "work" that they can exchange for the things they need in life. If their work loses all value, then we need to figure out what else we can do for/with these people.

At this point, it seems as if our engineering ability is advancing beyond the pace of our social structures and legal system.

[nly]

> If their work loses all value, then we need to figure out what else we can do for/with these people.

Global warfare would solve this problem on all fronts. You know, if the prospect of war these days didn't stand a good chance of ending the species.

[seangrant]

I think it was a poor choice of words. "Caring for others" can include things like making food, washing cars, and cleaning. Essentially another way of saying "labor for others."