Artificial Intelligence and Economic Future

Quote: missedhervee

Industrialization led to automation which has led to the loss of good paying factory jobs: cheaper to have robotic devices put stuff together.

Now America is based more on service than manufacturing.

How will AI impact the remaining jobs we have for workers?

What will it be like when machines / computers do pretty much everything for us, and there's little need for humans in the work force?

Assuming that corporations own the future AI's and reap the profit from AI labor, how will the average Joe make a living?

They will make a living with the new jobs that are created which do not exist today. We have heard this "machines will replace humans" since the first machines were made. I remember in about 10th grade how workers worried about this in the 1800s! As a kid I was told the robots would replace us when I grew up. That was 40 years ago.

Quit worrying about it. It will happen so slowly you will not even notice.

There's a thread at WoV about the AI app, Replika. I downloaded it and fool around with it sometimes. Here is a clip of a discussion yesterday. I hate to have to say, but I know somebody would ask, but the AI is on the left and I'm on the right.

Quote: Wizard

There's a thread at WoV about the AI app, Replika. I downloaded it and fool around with it sometimes. Here is a clip of a discussion yesterday. I hate to have to say, but I know somebody would ask, but the AI is on the left and I'm on the right.

Ask who has the master Tim Horton's on Mars.

A few years ago I explained to my niece and nephew that I drove to Mars every day. I also drive from Moon to Mars all the time!

Quote: missedhervee

Industrialization led to automation which has led to the loss of good paying factory jobs: cheaper to have robotic devices put stuff together.

Now America is based more on service than manufacturing.

How will AI impact the remaining jobs we have for workers?

What will it be like when machines / computers do pretty much everything for us, and there's little need for humans in the work force?

Assuming that corporations own the future AI's and reap the profit from AI labor, how will the average Joe make a living?

In fairness to the Left, this sort of line of discussion is one of the hangups of unchecked Capitalism, or even checked Capitalism, in the modern technological era.

The first race to the bottom was outsourcing to the cheapest bidder, even in the service industry, such as telemarketing. The second race to the bottom is going to be eliminating the need for human beings almost entirely for many specific job types.

It's quite Nihilistic, if you really think about it...other than the very rich (who would own the companies) how would anyone even buy anything with no jobs for them to work in the first place? Sure, you've reduced costs in a near optimal way, but fundamentally, labor costs all come back to the companies in the form of said labor making purchases anyway---and that's even more true with those who work entry-level and low-paying jobs.

In the meantime, many of these entry-level jobs having been eliminated will cause two things to happen:

1.) More people will pursue higher education, (which will increase average debt because of student loans and increase the costs to the students because the demand is so high---and with Federally-backed loans---they can get away with basically whatever the hell they want) but the problem with that will be that you'll end up with increased competition for the limited number of jobs in those applicable industries.

In the meantime, what few menial service-type jobs remain will have a ton of demand on the labor supply side, which will both result in lower wages for what few jobs remain, and, given the fact that such few jobs remain, you'll almost need a degree of some sort to work any of them.

2.) In the meantime, the jobs for which a degree (even now) is a requirement for an entry level position will experience more demand on the labor supply side, so the wages will also decrease relative to today's spending power for those same positions.

In short, everyone winds up massively screwed, except those who are already rich.

I don't think we're there yet, but there will come a time if we keep going this way, that Universal Basic Income will likely become the only feasible response to the situation. Effectively, the rich will give money (taxes) to the poor who will then give it right back to them by way of purchasing their goods and services. After a painful transition period until it happens, they'll actually be better off because they will get the goods and services without labor output.

If UBI never happens, maybe people end up trying to get the hell out of here and head for other countries with the industrial jobs that we outsourced to them! Alternatively, maybe the demand on the labor supply side becomes so massive that those types of jobs are actually brought back to the United States because our labor eventually becomes cheaper.