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Read this interesting essay written by DEREK THOMPSON
For centuries, experts have predicted that machines would make workers obsolete. That moment may finally be arriving. Could that be a good thing ?
The end of work is still just a futuristic concept for most of the United States, but it is something like a moment in history for Youngstown, Ohio, one its residents can cite with precision: September 19, 1977.
For much of the 20th century, Youngstown's steel mills delivered such great prosperity that the city was a model of the American dream, boasting a median income and a home ownership rate that were among the nation's highest. But as manufacturing shifted abroad after World War II, Youngstown steel suffered, and on that gray September afternoon in 1977, Youngstown Sheet and Tube announced the shuttering of its Campbell Works mill. Within five years, the city lost 50,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in manufacturing wages. The effect was so severe that a term was coined to describe the fallout: regional depression.
Youngstown was transformed not only by an economic disruption but also by a psychological and cultural breakdown. Depression, spousal abuse, and suicide all became much more prevalent; the caseload of the area's mental-health center tripled within a decade. The city built four prisons in the mid-1990s—a rare growth industry. One of the few downtown construction projects of that period was a museum dedicated to the defunct steel industry.
The future will tell us whether or not this pans out as he envisions. What does SN think will happen ?
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday June 25 2015, @01:16PM
Poster above already said robots For your first few examples.
I hate to say it but so what? Peoples once scare skills can become obsolete at any time. Go ask the blacksmiths. Don't rest on your laurels. Be flexible. Never stop learning and keep abreast of the latest tech that could threaten your position.
Only to directly survive. Look at small tribes from around the world. Small groups of around 50 people who only worked for the basic needs of survival: food, water and shelter. In short: they worked for the benefit of themselves, their family and their tribe. That is the human condition. Not working for 8 dollars an hour, struggling to pay bills and eat while their multibillion dollar burger chain CEO's have more money than god. This form of living is perverse and unnatural. Survival has been abstracted away from the individual making them a slave to an economy and governmental system that requires them to work for someone else not themselves. You can't work for yourself anymore.
Doctors can be eliminated via nano robotics and other nano technologies. Accountants? Already happening: Turbotax. With an increasingly complex society comes increasingly complex technology. We are just waiting for technology to catch up. And it will.
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Thursday June 25 2015, @01:29PM
Accountants? Already happening: Turbotax.
It's easier than that, just reform the tax code. You don't need accountants for something as dead-simple as this [delullosoftware.com].
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Thursday June 25 2015, @02:35PM
If only it was that simple.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by penguinoid on Thursday June 25 2015, @04:34PM
Can't simplify the tax code without making it abundantly clear to the people just how much they're paying in taxes (and also just how little other people are paying).
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 26 2015, @12:01AM
In short: they worked for the benefit of themselves, their family and their tribe. That is the human condition. Not working for 8 dollars an hour, struggling to pay bills and eat while their multibillion dollar burger chain CEO's have more money than god.
The latter is the same as the former. I don't work because my employer needs the labor I happen to provide. I don't work for money. I don't work to "struggle" to pay bills, and I don't work to eat. I work for the benefit of myself, and the people and things I care about.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday June 26 2015, @12:14AM
Plants are successful living organisms that do not labor, or even move much. If they can do it, why can't we? We do have much higher energy requirements, with a particularly intense use being the simple maintenance of a high body temperature. But it isn't an insurmountable obstance.
With help of a few devices, every person could be as self sufficient as plants. Won't need an electric company or water and sewage services, or grocery stores, just need land, sunlight, and raw materials. Would be good to have that option, to keep providers on their toes, make them compete for business and not be a monopoly that gets to take it for granted,
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 27 2015, @04:57PM
So an arcology for one? If you build one, I will buy it!