[spydum]

> The moral of the story is we should automate jobs that people don't like doing.

who decides what jobs people dont like doing? Just because you might not like being a taxi driver, farmer, actuary, etc, doesnt mean you should demolish the job with automation -- plenty of people find these jobs provide a fulfilling workday and are passionate about them. any automation there would deprive them of doing them as a profession, which is somewhat sad.

ill take it a bit further: how would we feel if tomorrow, we woke up and some guys from stanford published new research on AI which can automagically produce working software given a set of requirements -- and they give it away for free. the role of software development is no longer required, since this AI can do the job in seconds without bugs (you know, assuming requirements can be written without bugs!). what then of software developers? our jobs no longer make economic sense. you'll need to find one of those jobs not solved by a computer.

[intopieces]

Allow me to turn it back on you: what if your sentiment had prevailed at any time during our current revolution in automation? Say a group of factory workers protest automation not because it puts them out of a job, but because they like what they do (a totally unnecessary distinction - part of the reason I like my job is that it lets me eat and pay bills). Are you sympathetic to preventing automation then? Or is our current level of automation just right because it has presented you with the least amount of challenge to your job?

No, we should encourage automation full-tilt. Jobs are lost every day to automation, and the promise of a world where the workweek is short to nonexistent is one we should embrace, not reject because some people like their jobs. If we work hard enough to bring this to fruition, the actuary can crunch numbers on his own time if he wants -- or is free to explore thousands of other hobbies.

[orangecat]

how would we feel if tomorrow, we woke up and some guys from stanford published new research on AI which can automagically produce working software given a set of requirements -- and they give it away for free. the role of software development is no longer required

It might be inconvenient for me in the short term, but the world would be much better off overall. Trying to forbid that technology so that I could keep my current job would be selfish and destructive.

[Roritharr]

I've programmed since i was age 11 and i have been waiting for that research to be published ever since.

Programming is often times fun, but at the end of the day I program to get a job done, back then to develop a game, not because i love solving Sudokus.

[gcheong]

" how would we feel if tomorrow, we woke up and some guys from stanford published new research on AI which can automagically produce working software given a set of requirements -- and they give it away for free." I would personally feel great because that would mean I could focus on getting the requirements part right instead of slogging back and forth through build software that almost but doesn't quite get the requirements right and then perhaps I would have enough time to work on extending the system to being able to capture requirements from users as well.

[CyberDildonics]

How would we feel? In the grand scheme of things it wouldn't matter since the value in automating something like that would be absolutely enormous to productivity.

I don't write software because I like typing commands, I do it because I want to create something. We assume people do work because they want money, but real satisfaction is solving problems, and there are no shortage of those.