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posted by takyon on Wednesday February 14 2018, @03:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the nostradamus dept.

Bain consultants' macro trends department have released a report examining trends in demographics, automation and inequality to produce a set of predictions.

This kind of report seems to be all over the place these days, but this one seems more detailed and perhaps a little less optimistic than most.

In the US, a new wave of investment in automation could stimulate as much as $8 trillion in incremental investments and abruptly lift interest rates. By the end of the 2020s, automation may eliminate 20% to 25% of current jobs, hitting middle- to low-income workers the hardest. As investments peak and then decline—probably around the end of the 2020s to the start of the 2030s—anemic demand growth is likely to constrain economic expansion, and global interest rates may again test zero percent. Faced with market imbalances and growth-stifling levels of inequality, many societies may reset the government's role in the marketplace.

They predict that governments will assume a larger role in markets to combat inequality and boost demand, but will our corporate overlords decide that's in their interests, or continue to squeeze the lower and middle classes forever?

Related: Humans Are Underrated
Douglas Coupland: "The Nine to Five is Barbaric"
Survey Says AI Will Exceed Human Performance in Many Occupations Within Decades
More Than 70% of US Fears Robots Taking Over Our Lives, Survey Finds
The Future of Work Is Uncertain, Schools Should Worry Now
The Venus Project and the Quest for a Socially Engineered Future
Skilled Manufacturing Workers in Demand in the U.S.


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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 15 2018, @03:10AM (1 child)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday February 15 2018, @03:10AM (#638050) Journal

    Oh, but the application of bare, bestial human nature to this fragile illusionary castle in the air we refer to as civilization would be, Mr. Hallow :) And you would be just as dead as all the people you mock, if not deader, and all your classcucked ass-kissing would make not one whit of difference. You are somewhere between expendable and invisible to the elite whose boots you shine with your tongue.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 15 2018, @04:43AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday February 15 2018, @04:43AM (#638078) Journal

    Oh, but the application of bare, bestial human nature to this fragile illusionary castle in the air we refer to as civilization would be, Mr. Hallow :) And you would be just as dead as all the people you mock, if not deader, and all your classcucked ass-kissing would make not one whit of difference.

    My point here is that there's only so much we can do even in a well-run democracy. People who choose to make themselves into uncritical followers will be a problem no matter how much theatrical angst we spit out. Going way back to the beginning of this thread, there was this complaint about two classes of people servants and masters. I pointed out that some people are going to be firmly part of the less desirable "servant" class by choice or nature. I get that abandoning democracy because humanity is imperfect is a dumb idea, but I also get that democracy is always under threat precisely because humanity is imperfect.

    You are somewhere between expendable and invisible to the elite whose boots you shine with your tongue.

    Good thing I never cared, isn't it? I'm not here to curry favor. I am however here to remind people that we will always have an elite and we'll always have people who need someone to tell them what to do. The present system of private businesses does a good job of matching "servants" to "masters" in a way that allows for a) fluid flow between the two categories, b) movement between businesses when one gets sick of working for a particular business, and c) fair compensation for playing the game.