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posted by martyb on Monday October 14 2019, @02:56PM   Printer-friendly
from the wages-vs-prices dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Billionaire Jack Ma, long an outspoken advocate for China's extreme work culture, says that people should be able to work just 12 hours a week with the benefits of artificial intelligence.

People could work as little as three days a week, four hours a day with the help of technology advances and a reform in education systems, the Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. co-founder said at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai Thursday. He spoke on-stage with Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. who is building manufacturing facilities in the city.

[...] Just this year, Ma endorsed the China tech sector's infamous 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week routine, so common it earned the moniker 996. In one blog post, China's richest man this year dismissed people who expect a typical eight-hour office lifestyle, defying a growing popular backlash.

"I don't worry about jobs," Ma said on Thursday, making an optimistic case that AI will help humans rather than just eliminate their work. "Computers only have chips, men have the heart. It's the heart where the wisdom comes from."

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by drussell on Monday October 14 2019, @03:05PM (15 children)

    by drussell (2678) on Monday October 14 2019, @03:05PM (#906957) Journal

    There is such a disconnect between those in the upper financial crust of society, those people who never have to worry about money or what something costs because they have plenty of cash for anything they could ever need or want....

    ....and those people who work their butts off 40-60 or more hours per week just to survive, which is most people.

    It's like they live on a completely different planet.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @03:45PM (8 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @03:45PM (#906976) Journal

    It's like they live on a completely different planet.

    The rich are different than you and me. They have money.

    My opinion of the disconnect is simply, if I can live on 12 hours (which actually in my present situation, I could do and still save a modest amount of money), then I can do a lot more than live on 50-60 hours of work a week, even if it takes working several jobs.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @03:52PM (6 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @03:52PM (#906982)

      then I can do a lot more than live on 50-60 hours of work a week, even if it takes working several jobs.

      Poor khallow, working long hours for a life style he'll never have time for. And he still doesn't get it.

      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @04:00PM (2 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @04:00PM (#906987) Journal

        Poor khallow, working long hours for a life style he'll never have time for.

        At least in the meantime, I get to putter about in Yellowstone. I don't know what I want in the future, I just know I won't get it now, if I don't save some money. I have far greater freedom by saving money now than if I didn't.

        And what really would I spend it on?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:48PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:48PM (#907149)

          At least in the meantime, I get to putter about in Yellowstone.

          How's golfing in Yellowstone at night, after you wasted your life time doing regressions and correlations all day?

          • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @11:33PM

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @11:33PM (#907167) Journal

            How's golfing in Yellowstone at night, after you wasted your life time doing regressions and correlations all day?

            Pretty sweet, but you have to look for the frisbees sometimes.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by ChrisMaple on Monday October 14 2019, @04:06PM (2 children)

        by ChrisMaple (6964) on Monday October 14 2019, @04:06PM (#906990)

        How sad it is, to be able to afford good food, good clothing, and live in a nice house in a good neighborhood.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @04:41PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @04:41PM (#907013) Journal
          And be able to save more than half my salary too? Despite earning less than median, I might add.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:51PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @10:51PM (#907151)

          Right, because one's purpose in life is solely to consume now and pay for it with your future 20 years.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 15 2019, @02:55PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 15 2019, @02:55PM (#907388)

      And you therefore take away the jobs of 3-4 others. Or you gain the resources that 4-5 others could be having.

      So... 4 families can all survive together, or just 1 can. (Or, the more likely proposition, you will be taxed the value of 2 of those jobs so that you still get 3x the value and four others get one half the value each).

      In short, you're greedy.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 14 2019, @03:49PM (3 children)

    by c0lo (156) on Monday October 14 2019, @03:49PM (#906980) Journal

    It's like they live on a completely different planet.

    It's China; looks different enough to me.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 15 2019, @01:09PM (2 children)

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday October 15 2019, @01:09PM (#907342) Journal

      It's China; looks different enough to me.

      Nah, looks about the same, except with more garbage and open sewers.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday October 15 2019, @01:17PM (1 child)

        by c0lo (156) on Tuesday October 15 2019, @01:17PM (#907347) Journal

        And all those Chink... Chinese people, they look the same too to you, right? (large grin)

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
        • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday October 15 2019, @03:02PM

          by Phoenix666 (552) on Tuesday October 15 2019, @03:02PM (#907392) Journal

          They look different from each other, which is a little unexpected given every tenth person is named Wang [wikipedia.org].

          Seriously, though, it is interesting to note regional differences. People in the North are taller, fairer, and broader of frame. People in the South are shorter, darker, and slighter. Of course that's not scientific at all, and there are many possible explanations for those differences, but if you ride the train from North to South the people begin to look very different.

          --
          Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday October 14 2019, @05:06PM (1 child)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday October 14 2019, @05:06PM (#907030)

    I met a "big company owner" a few months before he launched a "revolutionary" product, he and all his friends thought it would be changing the world. The numbers made sense, the cost benefit was all there, all it required was for everybody to spring an extra $5K per person for this thing and such wonderfulness would ensue.

    Yeah, everybody's got an extra $5K to spend and then wait for the world to change. Seeing things from the heliport of his mountain top house, where his big sacrifice was having to remove the blades from his 2nd helicopter so they would both fit inside at the same time... it's easy to see the disconnect.

    --
    Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 15 2019, @03:04AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 15 2019, @03:04AM (#907224)

      a "revolutionary" product, ...$5K per person

      Segway? Or RealDoll?