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by BookmarkSaver 3066 days ago
>Its beyond frustrating the amount of attacks you face for inquiring about the livelihoods and future of people whose jobs are replaced by AWS processes.

That is because jobs aren't a hand-out. Somehow, we still have basically full employment 200 years after society started automating away jobs. You face ridicule for bitching about jobs lost to AWS for the same reason people now ridicule Luddites from 150 years ago.

3 comments

Those same 200 years have seen an incredible concentration of wealth towards the richest in society at the detriment of the poorest - and it still continues today. It is not unreasonable to ask if there is a better way to accommodate change.

I'm reminded of the quote by Ronald Wright that is perhaps better suited to today's discussion about Switzerland vs the US, but still feels relevant (and, as an immigrant to the US, very true):

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

I dunno, wealth was pretty darn concentrated in 1800 too. Is it really more concentrated now than in the high medieval period? Wealth concentration might have deeper causes than automation.
Come on man. I’m not bitching about jobs lost. I’m bitching that as a society we are still petty. We cannot even rally to commit to support ideas like free education or healthcare or even maternal leave. And it’s people like you who choose to completely ignore the obvious point I’m trying to draw attention to — dominant attitude of profits over people — in order to misrepresent me as someone who is bitching over jobs lost to progress. I hope we lose all those jobs. The day we no longer have to have people flip burgers or bag groceries will be a great day. But if those businesses are taking in more wealth now, why not spread it around? Better schools and healthcare. Better opportunity. Why not?
> That is because jobs aren't a hand-out.

There is a vast difference between government policy intended to help its citizens (and thus, the nation as a whole) prosper and grow and adapt as the economy changes, and "hand-outs."