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posted by mrpg on Thursday December 14 2017, @11:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the robot-scare-fad dept.

Weep for the future?

Today's 6th graders will hit their prime working years in 2030.

By that time, the "robot apocalypse" could be fully upon us. Automation and artificial intelligence could have eliminated half the jobs in the United States economy.

Or, plenty of jobs could still exist, but today's students could be locked in a fierce competition for a few richly rewarded positions requiring advanced technical and interpersonal skills. Robots and algorithms would take care of what used to be solid working- and middle-class jobs. And the kids who didn't get that cutting-edge computer science course or life-changing middle school project? They'd be relegated to a series of dead-end positions, serving the elites who did.

Alternatively, maybe Bill Gates and Elon Musk and the other big names ringing the alarm are wrong. A decade from now, perhaps companies will still complain they can't find employees who can read an instruction manual and pass a drug test. Maybe workers will still be able to hold on to the American Dream, so long as they can adjust to incremental technological shifts in the workplace.

Which vision will prove correct?

30 years into the Information Revolution and schools are only just now realizing they should teach kids how to code...


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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 15 2017, @10:15AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 15 2017, @10:15AM (#610222) Journal

    Serfs couldn't be sold? At all? Really?

    http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-life/medieval-serfs.htm [medieval-life-and-times.info]

    Definition of Medieval Serfs
    Medieval Serfs were peasants who worked his lord's land and paid him certain dues in return for the use of land, the possession (not the ownership) of which was heritable. The dues were usually in the form of labor on the lord's land. Medieval Serfs were expected to work for approximately 3 days each week on the lord's land. A serf was one bound to work on a certain estate, and thus attached to the soil, and sold with it into the service of whoever purchases the land.

    The Oppression of Medieval Serfs
    Serfdom represented a stage between slavery and freedom and therefore the oppression of Medieval Serfs. A slave belonged to his master; he was bought and sold like other chattels. Medieval Serfs had a higher position, for they could not be sold apart from the land nor could his holding be taken from him. Medieval Serfs were fixed to the soil. On the other hand Medieval Serfs ranked lower than a freeman, because he could not change his abode, nor marry outside the manor, nor bequeath his goods, without the permission of his lord.

    I see damned little difference between slaves and serfs, really. Do you understand what "freedom" means? I need no man's permission to buy or sell property. I can change my residence to almost any place in the world. I can travel as much as I please (and can afford) and see almost all of the world. I can work at any craft or trade, as a freelancer, or as a hired man. (a few exceptions which require licensing, and/or advanced education)

    I suspect that you have forgotten that serfdom evolved over many years. Early on, there was almost nothing to distinguish a slave from a serf. As time passed, serfs won some meager "rights", then more - but always they answered to a master.

    Also - that on-again off-again droit du seigneur business. Throughout time, "royal" sons of bitches have assumed the "right" to use any woman who might catch his eye, and interest. Wikipedia claims that it was seldom if ever exercised in medieval Europe, but the royal class kept resurrecting it. So, again, no real difference between slaves and serfs. The master may use you as he sees fit, and no court will ever punish him.

    A serf's life was in no way better than the working class in capitalism.

    BTW - when did serfs win the right to vote? They didn't, did they? As long as the class existed, they were born into a life in which the master ruled their every day, and every action. The master decided who they would marry, how much food they could keep, how nice a home they could have, what work they did - everything. No vote, precious little free will, nothing.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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