logoalt Hacker News

hax0ron3today at 5:16 PM7 repliesview on HN

>They're trying to have a CEO press a button that makes a game, and then everyone else somehow buys it without a job.

If AIs get just a few times better than they are now, the CEO probably actually will be able to press a button that makes a good quality game. The problem for the CEO is that every other CEO will be able to do the same thing, so what will be the distinguishing factor?

The buying without a job part isn't necessarily a devastating problem for now. Blue collar workers and service industry workers aren't in immediate danger of being replaced by AI, so there is a cushion period in which there is still a large number of people who have jobs.

>Since the advent of modern capitalism (and likely a long while before that), those in charge have often misunderstood, underestimated, or dismissed the hard work that goes into labour they don't understand.

I'm no big capitalism fan, but this sentence is funny. The author just had to put in a dig against capitalism, mildly qualified with the "and likely a long while before that". What do you mean "likely"? Lol. It's absolutely obvious that this has been true for a long while before modern capitalism.


Replies

voidfunctoday at 5:27 PM

A sizable portion of the blue collar economy collapses too if the white collar portion stops having money to spend or suddenly has an influx of time to do some of the stuff the blue collar workers were doing for them like lawns, home repair, painting etc.

Its all tied together. The current system cannot function if unemployment goes double digits.

dibujarontoday at 5:22 PM

"Blue collar workers and service industry workers aren't in immediate danger of being replaced by AI"

I wouldn't be so sure about this; robotics is advancing rapidly. I do think there'll be a substantial market for "human-made" products and services as luxuries, though, so at least some humans will retain these jobs.

show 2 replies
pkayetoday at 5:39 PM

> Blue collar workers and service industry workers aren't in immediate danger of being replaced by AI, so there is a cushion period in which there is still a large number of people who have jobs.

There will just be a lot more workers competing for those blue collar and service industry jobs in the future which will drive down their wages.

benatoday at 5:23 PM

The issue isn’t every other CEO having access to the “make game” button, but who will buy that game when the customers have access to their own “make game” button?

show 2 replies
MattDamonSpacetoday at 5:40 PM

Not to mention “labor they don’t understand” is only possible with specialization and modernity.

Back when everyone was a farmer, yeah sure everyone understood the job

show 1 reply
georgeecollinstoday at 6:10 PM

It's possible to be very talented and a crank.

show 1 reply