[SassyGrapefruit]

The jobs computers do today used to be done by "Human Computers". The same arguments were raised when these jobs were mechanized. It's the same cycle over and over.

AI/ML is no silver bullet. It's just another abstraction. It will create new types of jobs. Most likely coordinating/choreographing AI/ML agents in new yet to be discovered applications. It's all part of the endless march of technology. You don't realize how little you are actually capable of until you get the new set of tools that bounce you up to the next level.

Take the tools we have today and present them to some chump shoving punch cards into an early computer and watch their brain melt out of their ears. We can do things with a wristwatch they would have thought impossible. The people that will get burned are the ones that want to stand still. Always be learning.

[vl]

We are literally at the brink of the multiple major industries being wiped out. What was only theoretical for the last 10-15 years started to happen right now.

In few short years most humans will not be able to find any employment because machine will be more efficient and cheaper. Society will transform beyond any previous transformations in history. Most likely it's going to be very rough. But we just argue that of course our specific jobs are going to stay.

We are like horses that argue that surely they will find something to do after seeing the tractor.

[andrewjl]

> We are literally at the brink of the multiple major industries being wiped out.

> In few short years most humans will not be able to find any employment because machine will be more efficient and cheaper.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Citation needed.

> We are like horses that argue that surely they will find something to do after seeing the tractor.

This metaphor seems really off because horses aren't able to argue in the common sense of the word. Unlike horses, humans are adaptable.

[goatlover]

The horses weren't arguing since they're content not having to transport humans around. This sort of prediction has been made multiple times before. I don't think you know the future anymore than anyone else. We'll see in a few years.

[lossolo]

> Most likely it's going to be very rough.

I don't know why are you drawing such conclusion, in all democracies still people decide by voting, if most people will lose their jobs then what do you think they will do? Vote to be homeless? There will be something like basic pay and everything will be dirt cheap because no human labor will be needed, just scale machines that will work 24/7, a lot of people will still work but it will be a choice.

[samus]

If recent history is anything to judge by, this basic income might come with a lot of attached strings.

Since they would not be required anymore to keep the economy running, the lower classes of society would lose most of the little bargaining power they still have. And frankly many countries are doing kinda well also with large parts of their population being poor. Propaganda is sufficient to convince us that they deserve that, or that they don't deserve the basic income for some other reason.

There is a lot of Science Fiction about AIs ruling over humanity, or exterminating it, but I think a future where a wealthy class controls AI and rules over everyone else is more realistic. In such futures, societies will probably always walk a thin line between utopia and dystopia.

[lagrange77]

> The people that will get burned are the ones that want to stand still. Always be learning.

Spot on.

[kaushikc]

I used to be updated with the latest tech, but as I grow older, my capacity to learn and adapt quickly has dropped. I never thought that I would be the one saying this but I do admit that I find the pace of change difficult to keep up with. I now believe it is a natural process of ageing and even though I don't want to give up, I think I eventually may just throw my hands up.

[lagrange77]

I would say 'standing still' refers more to the state of mind. Of course, it's progressively harder to keep up with the details of modern technology. But being open to it is key. As a techie you understand technology better, than the average person, nevertheless.

[amag]

As I stated in other posts, this isn't really a fear about losing my job as much as on losing my will to live...

[hypertele-Xii]

You might want to examine your local culture. In many places in the world, job security and life meaningfulness are heavily correlated. Especially for men.

[amag]

No need when I can examine myself to know myself :). While not actively working for it, I'm at least inspired by the FIRE movement. I am also self-employed so I don't see job security as the meaning of life.

Still this whole thread has been illuminating, maybe part of my fear comes from identifying strongly with being creative and making things, and seeing that turned into something automated.

[RGamma]

I wouldn't give too much weight to some of these almost comically optimistic answers.

As with any society-scale event nobody really knows what's happening in every nook and cranny of this multi-billion inhabitant [0] spaceship and when it has happened it can and will be rationalised to fit just as many views.

Personally I very much get your point. Necessity is the mother of invention, and taking the necessity out of pretty much everything can destroy your motivation, because why expend energy on an already solved problem? That's inefficient (under the assumption that you won't require this understanding for some other reason). I know this happens to me, at least.

Perhaps in the AI-dominated world there'll be a pill for that or something..

[0] Animals won't stress out about this ;)