[verandaguy]

> With declining birthrates it's going to be not only "correct" but essential for people to continue in the work force.

This is a point I wish the article leaned into more. I disagree with your position, but it's a discussion that needs to be had. Our existing social safety nets, like you said, are incompatible with the direction society's going.

My opinion is that we're in a place where high levels of automation mean that we have the tools to start moving towards a post-scarcity, or at least reduced-scarcity society. It won't happen overnight, and maybe not even this century, but the idea that we've replaced many lower-paying jobs with automated solutions which are much cheaper (typically a fraction of the price for similar or better throughput) in the long run, while an affordability crisis is in full swing, seems like we're missing some clear ways to pump more money into social services while letting those companies using this automation get away with really harmful behaviours.

And yeah, I'm an optimist about post-scarcity, but I'll die on the hill that it's worth the effort to at least try and direct ourselves towards that.

[throwway120385]

I've never seen automation used to provide higher quality things. Usually it's used to provide subpar things and to try to drive the cost of things down. Or it's used to increase the intensity at which people work until they're completely exhausted every day after they finish work.

I really like the "Manna" series because I'm increasingly of the opinion that this is where our society is going with automation -- the computer thinks for me and if I'm not a suitable candidate to be automated by a computer, then I'm shoved in a box somewhere to live out my days with almost no comforts.

Just because automation could be used to eliminate scarcity it doesn't necessarily follow that that's the only way it will be used. It's far more likely to be used to further entrench the already existing structure of our society.

[verandaguy]

You're right that in some industries, with some products, automation delivers lower-quality results. But at the same time, automation has allowed us to build certain things that we previously almost couldn't at scales that were once unimaginable. Electronics are a good example of this -- a sub-µm process couldn't be done, practically, without a level of precision reliably achievable only through automation.

In many industries, automation also leads to higher reliability. Aircraft with flight envelope protection are a direct result of automation, and while poor design (like the original set of MCAS-related issues on the 737 MAX) or bad crew doctrine (like AA965 in 1995) can still lead to bad outcomes, automation, on the whole, has saved countless lives.

These tools exist, we just need to keep improving them, and use them in a strategic, smart, and forward-looking way.