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>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 t

>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.

MattDamonSpace 16d ago
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
- hax0ron3 16d ago
  I think that even back in early farming days, there were usually some guys who were good at using spears and didn't know much about farming who would go around taking part of the farmers' output. If the farmers were relatively lucky, the guys with the spears would stick around and defend the farmers from other guys with spears in a long-term arrangement of trading protection for material goods instead of just roaming around robbing farmers without giving anything back.
  - Ancapistani 16d ago
    Yep. We call the former “states” and the latter “gangs”. The difference is subtle.
dibujaron 16d ago
"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.
- ThrowawayR2 16d ago
  I'll believe that when I can get a robot plumber or electrician to come to my house for less than what a senior SWE makes per hour. Until then, it's just an empty promise.
- bryanlarsen 16d ago
  Blue collar workers such as plumbers are in danger of being replaced by robots, but not any time soon. But by the time this happens, enough people from more vulnerable fields will have been forced out that a "solution" will have been found. The "solution" is much more likely to be dystopic than utopic though.
bena 16d ago
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?
- hax0ron3 16d ago
  Good point. Except, the problem is that at AI prices similar to current ones, it would cost someone thousands of dollars to make the game for himself.
  - JaumeGreen 16d ago
    Luckily for us China based companies are pushing the price down and bringing it to those who can afford a decent hardware. Which might not be everyone, but enough people to make it matter. The day AI goes good enough to work in place of a principal engineer, and 10.000 people get fired, is the day when 10.000 new 1-person companies will appear that will make you whatever software you want at a fraction of the cost the big companies want to rent it to you. Software is becoming a true commodity. Data, Hardware, specialised knowledge, good taste and engineering practices, and connectivity. Those might be key points that might keep people on a certain infrastructure, not just the software.
- SirMaster 16d ago
  Well, people often play games not because they are the best game, but because their friends are playing it and they want to join in the experience. This seems to have more to do with marketing than game or code quality, and marketing is not exactly cheap.
voidfunc 16d ago
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.
- bugbull 16d ago
  The idea is to break the middle class. Blue or white collar it doesn’t matter. A politically active middle class is a danger to the designs of Silicon Valley ghouls.
pkaye 16d ago
> 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.
deleted 16d ago
[deleted]
georgeecollins 16d ago
It's possible to be very talented and a crank.
- redsocksfan45 16d ago
  [dead]
nitwit005 16d ago
> 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? No, the problem is, no one will need the CEO. They'll press the button on their own.

MattDamonSpace 16d ago

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

hax0ron3 16d ago
I think that even back in early farming days, there were usually some guys who were good at using spears and didn't know much about farming who would go around taking part of the farmers' output. If the farmers were relatively lucky, the guys with the spears would stick around and defend the farmers from other guys with spears in a long-term arrangement of trading protection for material goods instead of just roaming around robbing farmers without giving anything back.
- Ancapistani 16d ago
  Yep. We call the former “states” and the latter “gangs”. The difference is subtle.

dibujaron 16d ago

"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.

ThrowawayR2 16d ago
I'll believe that when I can get a robot plumber or electrician to come to my house for less than what a senior SWE makes per hour. Until then, it's just an empty promise.
bryanlarsen 16d ago
Blue collar workers such as plumbers are in danger of being replaced by robots, but not any time soon. But by the time this happens, enough people from more vulnerable fields will have been forced out that a "solution" will have been found. The "solution" is much more likely to be dystopic than utopic though.

bena 16d ago

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?

hax0ron3 16d ago
Good point. Except, the problem is that at AI prices similar to current ones, it would cost someone thousands of dollars to make the game for himself.
- JaumeGreen 16d ago
  Luckily for us China based companies are pushing the price down and bringing it to those who can afford a decent hardware. Which might not be everyone, but enough people to make it matter. The day AI goes good enough to work in place of a principal engineer, and 10.000 people get fired, is the day when 10.000 new 1-person companies will appear that will make you whatever software you want at a fraction of the cost the big companies want to rent it to you. Software is becoming a true commodity. Data, Hardware, specialised knowledge, good taste and engineering practices, and connectivity. Those might be key points that might keep people on a certain infrastructure, not just the software.
SirMaster 16d ago
Well, people often play games not because they are the best game, but because their friends are playing it and they want to join in the experience. This seems to have more to do with marketing than game or code quality, and marketing is not exactly cheap.

voidfunc 16d ago

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.

bugbull 16d ago
The idea is to break the middle class. Blue or white collar it doesn’t matter. A politically active middle class is a danger to the designs of Silicon Valley ghouls.

pkaye 16d ago

> 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.

deleted 16d ago

[deleted]

georgeecollins 16d ago

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

redsocksfan45 16d ago
[dead]

nitwit005 16d ago

> 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? No, the problem is, no one will need the CEO. They'll press the button on their own.