[toomuchtodo]

It it my opinion that to believe in my fellow human is not arrogant. Labor is not fungible ("lump of labor fallacy"), but people are versatile. We should expect that people can be trained into skilled roles, with alternate paths for those who don't have the aptitude. We have trillions of dollars of infrastructure work to be done in this country [1] [2], and we should absolutely expect our citizens to be able to perform that work if provided the means to do so.

Disclaimer: I have run and spliced fiber as a hobbyist for those starting rural ISPs, and also know where you stand on private venture vs community/muni/non-profit broadband. I'm always interested in your constructive criticism (based on your industry experience), as it helps me understand ways to drive down the costs of non-profit broadband initiatives.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal

[2] https://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/

[rayiner]

When I say it's arrogant I mean we too readily accept that skilled labor doesn't require specialized aptitude for the job. We readily accept that we can't easily train unemployed low-skill workers to be programmers or lawyers, but posit that we can do the same when it comes to installing fiber networks or fitting pipes.

I assume we disagree on this point, but I think it's accurate to say that most people lack the patience, attention to detail, and spatial, mathematical, planning, and problem-solving skills to do a lot of jobs that we assume people "can be trained to do." I don't think that Verizon pays service techs $40/hour + benefits out of generosity. My neighbor works at a local brewery. He sees a lot of guys (some with college degrees) that can't master "move vat A and load it into equipment B, but watch out for X, Y and Z."

I've spent my whole life getting roped into helping people with IT. Most of the time, it's a matter of "read the instructions completely, then click 'Next' until the installation is completed." Some surely could be taught to do it themselves. But I would not be surprised to find many for whom simply "read the instructions completely before doing anything" is a barrier, or who just cannot grasp the process of: "try X, observe results, modify approach, try Y."

[toomuchtodo]

I think this is a fair point, but you find this quandary in hiring for most roles: "Does this person give enough of a shit about the job to at least try to get it right?" The economy is still somewhat functioning, so I assume the answer to that is yes, you can find people who can mostly do the job they're in.

This is not to say you don't need education so workers know how to do the job, effective leadership for those folks, as well as quality assurance and other mechanisms to ensure the work being spec'd is done appropriately. I put forth that there is a middle ground between the nihilistic idea that "these people can only flip burgers" and the naive assumption that anyone can be a brain surgeon and policy put in place around such aspirations.

> But I would not be surprised to find many for whom simply "read the instructions completely before doing anything" is a barrier, or who just cannot grasp the process of: "try X, observe results, modify approach, try Y."

I agree an early filter must be used to route these folks into harmless roles or simply benefit programs. Such is the struggle of searching for and retaining talent. People are hard.