[plurgid]

hold on now.

This isn't nature we're talking about here. It's other humans.

When I spend 20 or 30 years of my life specializing in a particular task, and doing it to generate a large amount of wealth for my employer, who passes a much smaller amount of wealth on to me, there are and should be strings attached to that from the employer's side.

In the US at least, there are already PLENTY of strings attached from the employee side. I can't see a doctor without a job. I can't borrow money without a job. I can't smoke grass, yadda yadda yadda. And I live in an "at will" state as well.

Sorry. This is not nature we're dealing with. It's humans exploiting other humans. The "adapt or die" philosophy is not justified.

[imgabe]

In terms of your ability as an individual to effect the situation, the difference between nature and other humans is mostly academic. What's going to be more successful: forcing millions of other humans to pay more for a less convenient service than the alternative or just learning a different way to make a living?

> I can't see a doctor without a job.

I wasn't aware doctors ran employment checks before seeing patients. I haven't been to the doctor in a long time, though.

> I can't borrow money without a job.

Uh, yeah? People who lend you money like to see that you have some means of paying it back. How is that relevant?

> I can't smoke grass

Depends on the job, but that is a legal issue. I doubt most employers would care if the law didn't force them to.

> The "adapt or die" philosophy is not justified.

This is not a philosophy, it's a statement of the reality of the situation. Circumstances change due to forces beyond your control This will happen to everyone at some point. You can stamp your feet and whine and moan and demand that someone else (Who exactly?) put them back the way they were, or you can figure out how to deal with them.

[AstralStorm]

You're advising an individual to deal on their own with a systemic problem...

Sounds callous and egotistical.

[imgabe]

Do you advise individuals to ignore problems and not deal with them? What do you propose as the alternative to dealing with a problem? Sit around and wait for somebody else to fix it for you?

Driving, as a job, is going away. Not much is going to change that, nor should it. What is your advice for the drivers? "Sit on your hands, and hope that someone gives you some free money at some point"? Would they not be better served by taking some action to find a new line of work now?

[socrates666]

Support companies that care for their employees. Turn your back to those that exploit.

I think it's called capitalism.

[imgabe]

That's fine for the long term. But telling someone who's getting automated out of their job "Just support companies that care for their employees" does not improve their situation at all.

[AstralStorm]

Unless adapt means squeeze your own workers better and more efficiently.

The adaptation here is not to switch or become the slave master yourself. It is to resist and fight the problematic system of exploitation in all available alternative ways.

The "job" system is enforced at as low level as getting or not credit based on whether you get paid regularly or by whom. It is enforced by preferential rated for insurance and taxes for employers. Etc.

Unfortunately the solution, which is organized resistance to these ideas, is easy to pervert or bribe away.