[misiti3780]

“Productivity is at record levels, innovation has never been faster, and yet at the same time, we have a falling median income and we have fewer jobs. People are falling behind because technology is advancing so fast and our skills and organizations aren’t keeping up.” It is, he said, “the great paradox of our era.”

While I believe this is true, and understand why it is a problem, I do not think there is anything that can be done about it. Now that billions of people are online, Moore's law has made hardware cheap and fast, and anyone can build a piece of software with a chance of viral growth (if lucky), we have to establish that we are in a winner-take-all environment. This is simply the power law at work.

I would also say that we are without a doubt, in the early phases of this period - going forward, any job that can be automated will be, eventually. If my company can front the capital expenditures to build/buy a robot that can do my job for $4/hour (with out lunch and coffee breaks) instead of $35/hour w/ benefits, my new salary should be $4/hour per basic economics of supply and demand.

Is this a huge problem, absolutely. Is it going away - not a chance. The writing is on the wall for a lot of repetitive tasks - the best thing everyone can do is vote for people who want to improve education, starting and elementary level in the US and push more kids in the STEM careers. If you want to contribute on an individual level, consider tutoring / mentoring younger kids in your free time. Show them that instead of pissing their entire youthful lives away scrolling through the useless feeds that are facebook, instagram and/or snapchat, they could actually build their own facebook/snapchat.

[douche]

One of the things I think we forget about here, where most of us are smarter than the average bear, is that there are a lot of people that aren't so smart. If you have an 80 IQ, you might be able to learn how to code, but it's going to be really hard and you're never going to be as good as somebody with more mental resources to start with. My mother works as a special ed teacher - her main concern is trying to get her kids reading and doing math within one or two grade-levels of where they ought to be, and with a lot of effort and one-on-one work, she sometimes succeeds. Some years, 25% of the entire grade will be on her case-load.

A hundred years ago, these people could do pretty alright working on the farm. Fifty years ago, they could do real well working in the mills. Today, they struggle to subsist on WalMart and McDonald's wages. Already, we're automating those jobs away.

[misiti3780]

I agree in spirit, but I think most people are capable of obtaining an STEM degree (you're being too pessimistic). You just have to work a bit harder than say you work for an art history degree (and you certainly come out of college less well-rounded, which is also a huge problem).

There are always going to be good jobs that don't require college degrees. Plumbers can make $100K a year if they're good and work hard. I'd rather be a plumber making $100K any day then working for $25/bucks per hour trying to pay off my $180K in student loans from a B+ list law school. (a lot of people are in this position)

If you can get through law school, you can certainly get through any STEM degree.

[mercer]

You're very optimistic. I suspect there are tons of people who can not get through law school or get an art history degree!

I've spent quite a chunk of my life around people who are somewhere on the lower half of the intelligence curve. I grew up in poor neighborhoods, and attended a pentecostal church for much of my life (which at least over here contains the full spectrum of 'classes', but skews working class).

Lots of these people just cannot handle the level of abstraction (or whatever the thing is they need) to obtain even the easiest of college degrees.

On the other hand, I also learned that 'smart' is a very multi-dimensional thing and from their perspective 'academic me' is a complete idiot in so many ways. I'm just saying that the particular skills needed for (most of?) college are skills that a lot of people don't have.

[garysieling]

I think there are probably a few things that can be done. For instance, the quality of internet in the rural area where my parents are is pretty bad.

[misiti3780]

i have the same issue with where my parents live also.

[talmand]

Although I agree with you on the education part, pushing STEM is not necessarily the answer. Everyone having the same skillset is certainly not the answer to diminishing returns on employment.