alt Hacker NewsSpecific mechanism:
1. jobs being automated implies companies can do way more with fewer workers
2. this means they have extra profit that they can push somewhere
3. they will push it again to capital by finding new ventures to scale out
4. for achieving (3) they need labour pool, which is where we come in
Few open questions
- What kind of new ventures? Colonising Mars is an example, but ambition is unlimited
- Will companies choose to scale out or just eat profits? I think they will scale out due to ideology and market dynamics
- Biggest question: can humans still provide value in some dimension where AI can't? I don't know..
You sort of get at this with your biggest question, but who's to say the new ventures will require human labor at all? It seems far more likely that any new types of jobs going forward will be designed intentionally so that agents can complete them, given the strong incentives. I agree that companies will scale out, but all signs point to them scaling out their token spend rather than hiring.