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by AstroBen 163 days ago
Consider people in their 40s have..

A mortgage: if you were assuming a strong income that would continue, you very likely could be forced to sell your house and take a huge loss

A family, kids: people relying on you

Time: at this point you have retirement plans and financial deadlines you need to hit if it's to ever become a reality

God forbid you have any health issues that cost $$$ which tend to come as you age. Can you afford to lose health insurance?

If you think about re-skilling and starting off at entry level.. people don't really want to hire older beginners.

Of course that's absolute worst case scenario, but I guarantee there are a lot of people there.

I'd 100% choose living out of my car for a while. In your 20s you can upend everything and completely reinvent yourself. Time, minimal responsibilities and energy are priceless

> could pivot to business and people-oriented roles by leveraging what they have now

There's a reason that's really vague, right? Because who knows if it'll be available

I don't think AI is gunna reach this point but who knows. It's not off the table

3 comments

If enough people have nothing left to lose, the French Revolution will most likely be the outcome. Or a working UBI. If programmers aren't safe, I can't imagine most other professions won't be on the chopping block as well.
There's a lot of this forum in exactly that position. The fear is real; there is a real risk this AI destroys families and people's lives in the disruption.
I understand this perspective, but it's like... I would like to have a house and kids and all those things you mentioned, even if it was hard. That's not an option, financially, for a lot of young people