Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

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

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Jack Ma Says 12-Hour Work Week could be the Norm | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 85 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday October 14 2019, @04:50PM (1 child)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @04:50PM (#907019) Journal
    I've done four on and three off. It's not bad once you get used to it, and write shit down. Surely, you've done the occasional part time job. Even a 20 hour a week job is common enough that you'll remember most of it. I can go further. I've volunteered 8 hours a week for a non profit aerospace group and picked up some good workshop and advanced composite skills as a result. If you're doing it ever week for at least several hours, you're building up knowledge.

    Whether that's good enough, depends on the job. I'd be leery of an air traffic controller or a surgical doctor who only did 12 hours a week in their job. I don't know if that's enough for someone to stay in the necessary head space.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +1  
       Informative=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Informative' Modifier   0  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday October 14 2019, @05:15PM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 14 2019, @05:15PM (#907038) Homepage Journal

    I see an obvious invitation for the line about "part time gynocologist" here . . .

    --
    Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.