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Jack Ma Says 12-Hour Work Week could be the Norm

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

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @04:42PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @04:42PM (#907014) Journal
    Yes, and it does mean more wages and benefits. Health care is sucking it up in the US. Meanwhile people elsewhere, particularly in the developing world, are seeing huge gains in wages.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @06:24PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 14 2019, @06:24PM (#907075)

    Then one would think you'd be in FAVOR of universal healthcare that has been shown to have better health outcomes WHILE being cheaper? Right?

    Right?

    Who am I kidding, common sense can't break through your true believer stupidity.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @11:06PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @11:06PM (#907157) Journal

      Then one would think you'd be in FAVOR of universal healthcare that has been shown to have better health outcomes WHILE being cheaper?

      In other countries which don't yet have the structural problems of the US health care system. Presumably by "universal health care", you're not referring to the universal system the US currently has which is a combination of insurance and personal payment, but rather to a single payer, publicly funded system.

      The US already has two single payer systems for particular groups, veterans and the poor. Both are expensive and dysfunctional. I think that augurs poorly for any more universal system of such.