I have three (gen A) kids, of which two are of the age to have opinions on this.

They tell me I don't have a real job because I just tell the computer what to do, and I don't do the thing myself (to which I can't help but respond that they're absolutely right). If I try to spin them a bullshit story, they tell me how can that be true and maybe I got brainwashed by AI. Also they hate ads with a passion.

If anything, I'm incredibly hopeful for newer generations. They'll probably mostly be fine, like most of us were.

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Edit: many responses, and I'll add that in isolation "x is not real work" coming from a kid is maybe equally endearing as it is divisive.

I'll add that of course my kids are a product of their upbringing, and I make no secret of my existential confusion about what it is to program a computer when most of the time i'm just steering the clanker away from obviously dumb mistakes.

My wife is a psychologist working with underprivileged kids, so we always joke that she has the real job and I'm just doing a hobby that pays well. Much of this is them simply parroting that, maybe. We do try to teach them to think beyond dogma and the cultural bias they grow up in, but who can tell. Everyone is in the end to a great extent a product of their environments, and parents.

Finally. They (their generation) will probably be fine, but they might equally well not be. Vapes, tiktok, souped up ebikes, sexting, designer drugs, climate change, refugees, extremism. So many challenges, but you could argue every generation had that. So i choose not to have too much of an opinion and try to stick with gleeful, desperate optimism.

> They tell me I don't have a real job because I just tell the computer what to do, and I don't do the thing myself (to which I can't help but respond that they're absolutely right).

For most of computing history this has been the case, too!

They tell me I don't have a real job because I just tell the computer what to do, and I don't do the thing myself (to which I can't help but respond that they're absolutely right)

Hm interesting

So they are making the distinction between regular "human brain" coding and AI-assisted coding?

Regular coding could be described as "not doing the thing yourself, but telling the computer what to do"

(FWIW I do think there is a huge difference; however I am not sure the general public has a very good idea of what "programming" is. I remember having some code up on my screen and my educated family was confused, even at the concept)

"Children are never shy to tell the truth." Your comment makes me hopeful as well.

In general those "Generation XYZ is threatened by this, thinks that" tropes often annoy me. I'm born somewhere between Gen-Y and Gen-Z and those boundaries feel totally arbitrary.

This smells to me an awful lot like the

"You're not a real ham if you don't use Morse code", "You're not a real machinist if you use CNC", "Your mechanical drawing skills are going to atrophy if you use CAD CAM. "You should manually tape PCB layouts, so you have more control.

And another grandfather's favorite, "Why do you want to use the forklift? You won't always have one, and a pry bar and rollers are good enough, and you learn the value of real work."

You have smart kids.

Once you use AI for all your work you won't be growing anymore, just fading away

Well the point is you tell it what to do isn't it? Unless your job is so replaceable and generic there's little actual direction needed?

I still can barely have a convo with it where it doesn't just make up total unworkable bollocks.

It can manage some coding though tbf, but again, not sure how far a completely non-tech user would find it.

> If anything, I'm incredibly hopeful for newer generations. They'll probably mostly be fine, like most of us were.

The current state of the world begs to differ with "most of us being mostly fine". Critical thinking skills and the ability to make wise decisions among the various electorates seem to be in a incredibly shitty state.

Anecdotally, Gen Z-ers as a whole are definitely not better at this; they're easily swayed by flashy memes, TikToks and other forms of disinformation. Where younger people used to have a more society minded, leftist lean (before ultimately becoming jaded), they more than ever side with right wing populists from a young age. Not all of them, but a much larger chunk than before.

Yes, well, my youngest (15) tells me all the same things, while simultaneously constantly asking Gemini to help them write code for their game they're building in RPG Maker.

They'll see.