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by Apocryphon 3169 days ago
Then what are they supposed to do, stop growing? Sure they could stand to raise wages for existing workers across the board (and they should) but that doesn't solve the labor supply issue.

Maybe some of these grants can go towards retraining existing engineers who need to acquire new skills.
2 comments
baursak 3169 days ago
> Then what are they supposed to do, stop growing?

I never understood growth for the sake of growth mentality. Isn't that what's killing the planet, broadly speaking?

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Apocryphon 3169 days ago
Certainly unrestrained resource extraction and financialization of the entire economy- generating wealth for a select few with complex financial instruments that has no real purpose for the general public- are bad. But surely much of tech does provide some benefit to society. What happened to software is eating the world?
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s73ver_ 3169 days ago
But is Google doing that? And does it have to be Google?
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Apocryphon 3169 days ago
I'm not sure what you're referring to exactly. I'm not praising Google in this story- I think they're doing this strictly for business reasons- but I still think it's a positive action even if it's motivated by the bottom line. But it's inevitable that them, just like most other giant companies in the black, are going to expand sooner or later, and they will need more workers. So there's not much you can do about that. If it's not Google or Apple hiring, it's going to be Tesla or SpaceX or Kiva or these guys (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/technology/a-start-up-sug...)

My main point is trying to stem the demand for more workers, whether H1Bs or American citizens, is futile. And even if somehow American firms stopped demanding more tech workers, firms abroad will be as well. So why not try to train more people to become workers?

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s73ver_ 3169 days ago
Why do they need to continue growing? They're already what, 80% of online ads?
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Apocryphon 3169 days ago
Google will just continue to move into more markets and moonshot projects until either the shareholders revolt or the government applies antitrust. But if not them, some other organization will need tech workers, and are you going to ask them to stop growing? See this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15461924
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