• MacN'Cheezus
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    57 months ago

    It will certainly change the way we work, yes, but that’s always been the case with any disruptive technology in the past.

    20-30 years ago, people were already worried that computers would replace people, because they could automate away menial office jobs like invoicing and book keeping. Yet those jobs still exist, because computers can’t be trusted to work completely autonomically. Meanwhile, a whole lot of new jobs were created in the IT sector as result of those computers needing to be programmed, updated, and maintained.

    When cars came around and started replacing horse buggies, people were also worried because it would make horse breeders, stables, blacksmiths, etc. obsolete, but of course it just ended up created a new industry consisting of gas stations, car dealerships, and garages instead.

    So yes, some people might lose their jobs because what they’re doing now will become obsolete, but there will almost certainly be new ones created instead. As long as you’re willing to adapt and change with the times, you’re never going to end up with nothing to do.

    • @Buddahriffic
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      17 months ago

      I think there’s a ceiling on that, too. Not saying we’re necessarily near that right now, but it’s possible to have two robots whose capabilities include maintaining each other. I don’t think the list of possible jobs to do (both current and future) is infinite, though it could still be vast, and if technology continues to reduce the number of people needed to do those jobs, eventually we’ll get to a point where there’s more people wanting jobs than there are jobs available.

      Though it is possible that that point is still thousands of years away.