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The last time my family was replaced by technology

339 points · 641 comments · megalomanu

  1. zug_zug · · focus · HN ↗
    And my great great grandpa thought horses would lose all their jobs to cars. And they all did and it was never the same again.

    There’s no quick answers, but intuitively I think we all get that the % of jobs not doable by AI and robotics approaches 0 over time.

    1. Pet_Ant · · focus · HN ↗
      Worse, it was just almost all horses. There are a few in Central Park pulling tourists and that’s enough for the Pollyanna’s to point to and go “See! We’ll be fine!”
      1. ForHackernews · · focus · HN ↗
        Presumably you are a human, not a horse, yes? Presumably there is more to your life than dragging around carts all day every day?

        HN: A site full of bold futurists where it's easier to imagine the end of the humanity than the end of capitalism.

        1. swid · · focus · HN ↗
          > the % of jobs not doable by AI and robotics approaches 0 over time.

          Horse are an analogy. When they were more economically useful, there were about 5x the number of them. Now they are basically pets and we get comments like this suggesting the work they do is virtually meaningless.

          1. ForHackernews · · focus · HN ↗
            Yes, most of the work many people do is virtually meaningless.

            Are you a preschool teacher? Are you a doctor, a therapist, an artist? Does your work contribute anything to yourself or other humans around you?

            Or do you get paid a lot of money to sit in an office and update JIRA tickets about tracking ad conversions and increasing engagement OKRs?

            1. 0c3ca83 · · focus · HN ↗
              > Are you a preschool teacher? Are you a doctor, a therapist, an artist?

              We've already automated the artists. Doctors are currently a strong area of focus. In a world where AI replaces human thought, education becomes only for hobbyists. That leaves therapist.

              I suppose we're going to need a lot of therapists.

              1. layla5alive · · focus · HN ↗
                LLMs have much better cognitive empathy than most humans have limbic+cognitive empathy - the therapists will also be automated - friction like licensing bodies will slow it down but not stop it.
                1. demilicious · · focus · HN ↗
                  I’m not sure how to respond to this before I know if it’s satire or not?
                  1. foobar10000 · · focus · HN ↗
                    Unfortunately not satire - modern models can be trained to be better than humans in recognizing emotions straight off camera.
                    1. Tanjreeve · · focus · HN ↗
                      That is not even 1% of what therapists do. Let alone medical ones/psychiatrists.
                      1. queenkjuul · · focus · HN ↗
                        People like that always have such dismal opinions about what people actually do, it's insane
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