[ok_computer]

Lower and median IQ people still benefit from literacy, numeracy, and art to function in society. The point of education systems isn’t to boost individuals’ dimensionally reduced 1D metrics but rather enrich their lives and contributions to society. There will always be distributions of abilities and means but that doesn’t justify neglecting the bulk of tax paying people.

[jacquesm]

It used to be that society worked just fine with people of all grades of smarts. But we're rapidly getting to the point that to be able to earn a living wage you need to be above average, especially if you are sole income provider for a while. AI is further steepening that S curve's mid-section.

[ok_computer]

I think that has more to do with our willingness or ability to value labor in a highly abstracted overseas and automated economy. In addition, there has been a complete disconnect between $1USD purchasing power and generation ability based on capital scale. I don't know what financial crisis or tax policy or free trade agreement or visa program that stems from.

I think that in the knowledge worker class, people tend to confuse their learned skills and inherited starting point to their innate abilities. Illusory superiority is best mocked in prairie home companion's Lake Woebegone, where "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and the children are all above average" [0].

Give kids a stable home environment with loving supportive parents, three square meals a day, 9+ hours of sleep and opportunity to pursue their creative or sports interests and you'll have a class of highly functioning humans of different abilities.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon#The%20Lake%20Wobe...

It does feel like a squeeze just functioning in the current job, housing, and grocery market though. I cannot imagine the stress of being a sole provider. My point is to not conflate genetic superiority to the multitude of factors that go in to making a talented skillful worker, where I think nurture cannot be discounted.

[mrDmrTmrJ]

"It does feel like a squeeze just functioning in the current - housing, and grocery market though"

If housing were far cheaper and traded just at the cost of new construction. ($250/sq-ft for new build 6 story, $400/sq-ft for 30 story mass timber, $600/sq-ft steel and concrete). We'd see that people can easily live in the current job market!

The fundamental problem in our economy is the artificial scarcity of housing (through local regulation) in the cities and towns where the economy is booming.

[mr_toad]

With the automation of agriculture and manufacturing economies have become highly service oriented. Low skilled service jobs have always paid poorly.

[jacquesm]

Poorly in the USA or Canada does not equal poorly in Europe and some other countries outside of Europe. Some societies never paid a living wage to begin with. The USA for instance has structurally blocked minimum wage increases on the flimsiest of pretexts for many years now. Meanwhile, inflation is through the roof. The end result of that combination is very predictable.