The speed of progress of the current generation of AI
The number of jobs that AI can already replace.
Just how many fuckin’ people are forklift drivers or cashiers
The will of your employers to be rid of annoying, needy employees
You’re overestimating:
The actual productivity of most people
Your actual worth to your company
How much company leaders understand about AI outside of “I can cut headcount by a lot”
I think the part that most people miss is that it’s not about being a 1:1 replacement. With proper use of the AI tools we have now, it’s not at all unexpected for one person to be able to do the job of many by overseeing the running and output of AI agents. AI isn’t going to replace whole industries (yet), but it is absolutely going to replace half of the members of a lot of teams.
I think the thing I haven’t quite sussed out is… Well, let’s take Wal-Mart and Dollar General. Wal-mart and DG both have this weird niche of being both major employers for rural areas, as well as depending on nearly their employee base as customers. If they automate all their jobs away, who do they think they’re going to be selling to? My guess so far is that all these MBAs think that certainly their customer base won’t run out of cash by having their jobs automated away.
Company’s aren’t some kind of “world conspiracy”. They don’t work together much besides what they have to to make more money.
Company A doesn’t care whether company B suffers because people don’t have enough money to buy company B’s products because company A doesn’t pay their employees properly.
Company A only thinks for itself, and if paying employees less is saving it money, then that’s what it will do.
Walmarts and such are actually a special case because their employees will typically spend their money back at the very same company. But that’s the exception, not the rule. And also we’re talking about white-collar labor being automated, not so much cashiers and such.
Seems to be the case for a lot of industries, even if not as blatant. The economy thrives when people have the means to buy products. You can make production as cheap as you want, you’re not making much profit if only the 1% can buy them.
Ford might have been a bastard, at least he was a smart bastard who didn’t let the idea that someone might benefit from something that also benefitted him stop him. Which is a major problem with the current batch. And I know he was a fascist. He was bad, somehow people strive to be worse.
You’re underestimating:
You’re overestimating:
I think the part that most people miss is that it’s not about being a 1:1 replacement. With proper use of the AI tools we have now, it’s not at all unexpected for one person to be able to do the job of many by overseeing the running and output of AI agents. AI isn’t going to replace whole industries (yet), but it is absolutely going to replace half of the members of a lot of teams.
I think the thing I haven’t quite sussed out is… Well, let’s take Wal-Mart and Dollar General. Wal-mart and DG both have this weird niche of being both major employers for rural areas, as well as depending on nearly their employee base as customers. If they automate all their jobs away, who do they think they’re going to be selling to? My guess so far is that all these MBAs think that certainly their customer base won’t run out of cash by having their jobs automated away.
Company’s aren’t some kind of “world conspiracy”. They don’t work together much besides what they have to to make more money.
Company A doesn’t care whether company B suffers because people don’t have enough money to buy company B’s products because company A doesn’t pay their employees properly.
Company A only thinks for itself, and if paying employees less is saving it money, then that’s what it will do.
Walmarts and such are actually a special case because their employees will typically spend their money back at the very same company. But that’s the exception, not the rule. And also we’re talking about white-collar labor being automated, not so much cashiers and such.
Seems to be the case for a lot of industries, even if not as blatant. The economy thrives when people have the means to buy products. You can make production as cheap as you want, you’re not making much profit if only the 1% can buy them.
Even Henry Ford understood this, and paid his automobile factory workers well so they could also be his customers.
Ford might have been a bastard, at least he was a smart bastard who didn’t let the idea that someone might benefit from something that also benefitted him stop him. Which is a major problem with the current batch. And I know he was a fascist. He was bad, somehow people strive to be worse.