this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
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submitted 3 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Thanks to @[email protected] for finding the original author:

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Everyone thinks their own line of work is safe because everyone knows the nuances of their own job. But the thing that gets you is that the easier a job gets the fewer people are needed and the more replaceable they are. You might not be able to make a robot cashier, but with the scan and go mobile app you only need an employee to wave a scanner (to check that some random items in your cart are included in the barcode on your receipt) and the time per customer to do that is fast enough that you only need one person, and since anyone can wave a scanner you don’t have much leverage to negotiate a raise.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

And that's a good thing, if and only if you provide pathways to other jobs or phase workers out slowly i.e. by retirement.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Or provide UBI to share the wealth generated by increased societal productivity

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I have had a number of conversations with relatively reasonable conservatives, where I've brought up the dangers of so many jobs moving toward automation with no additional job creation. And steering the conversation carefully, I got them to at least consider the idea of UBI funded by taxing any and all automation. I also got them (with the "everybody should have to work, people shouldn't get life handed to them for free" mentality) to agree that the rise in automation should mean people working less hours each, so everyone still has jobs (basically, UBI and changing "full time" to 25 or 30 hours, where people get overtime past that... creating more jobs while peoples needs are still covered).

It's amazing, sometimes, how starting with some similar premises (people should have to work, which I mostly agree with) and shared threat (automation taking jobs) can lead to some more open minds for things that they would otherwise be adamantly against.

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