"When jobs get automated, almost always, people find other jobs"

Never as good pay and many end up on the system.

weitendorf an hour ago | parent | next [-]

When my parents were my age, there were almost no jobs working with distributed systems or robotics and the relative standard of living was much worse than what I have been able to attain at a similar age and level of education.

My grandparents performed jobs that now are rarely performed in the US due to there being better jobs for those qualified to perform them.

I am much happier working with AI and distributed systems than as a carpenter or steel mill foreman like my grandfathers. Everybody on my father's side of the family had these white marks all over their forearms from molten metal splashing on them and burning them as they worked.

This is only possible because of technological progress. It creates new jobs.

	▲	SenHeng 15 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Same. My grandfather was a sailor, then cook. Father drives a taxi. Mom is a seamstress. Stepdad worked at the same factory for 65 years. As I was coming of age in the 90s, they chastised me for spending all my time in front of the computer. Yet here I am still sitting in front of one, making more money than they could've ever imagined. Society progresses whether or not you want it.

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pj_mukh an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Pretty sure a DoorDash driver now gets paid better than a 19th century farmer inflation adjusted? Over a single lifetime, there are no guarantees because there's too many variables, but civilization-ally, the progress seems to always hold up.

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cman1444 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

But, as a whole, the entire population's pay goes a lot farther since no one has to pay drivers to drive them around anymore.

Living standards would be a lot worse today if we still had to pick crops in the field by hand.

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bluefirebrand an hour ago | parent [-]

> But, as a whole, the entire population's pay goes a lot farther since no one has to pay drivers to drive them around anymore

They still have to pay the Waymo though, it didn't become free. :/

You're kidding yourself if you think autonomous taxis will be cheaper in the long run just because they don't pay a driver.

They will outcompete human drivers on cost and once they are dominant they will raise prices. This has happened every other time human labor was replaced too. It is practically the Silicon Valley playbook.

	▲	cman1444 24 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The cost to take a picture today and keep it on your phone is not more expensive than it was when you had to get them developed in a darkroom. The cost to watch a movie today through streaming is not more than it was when you had to go to a movie theater to see one. The cost to buy and sell financial instruments today through Robinhood or similar products is not more than when you had to have a broker to place orders for you. The cost to find vast amounts of information through search engines is negligible today. To do so previously would take immense amounts of time, effort, and money parsing through encyclopedias is the information even existed at the time. The cost to print a few drafts of a memo today requires a single session typing into Microsoft word and then printing to your office printer. Previously you had to pay a typist to put together multiple drafts for you. On autonomous vehicles: Yes they will absolutely be cheaper, as long as a complete monopoly is avoided. It's not just that you don't have to pay the driver. You also will have vastly lower insurance rates due to how safe they are. Maintenance costs will be lower due to economies of scale when fleet operators can have the car deliver itself to a dedicated massive maintenance facility.

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bethekidyouwant an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I always hear people saying this but when? the 70s the 60s? that’s your golden age?