Comment

Comment on “AI took my job, literally”—Gizmodo fires Spanish staff amid switch to AI translator

Automation doesn’t necessarily mean a better quality of life. We’re fatter than ever, more depressed than ever, and we still work more than a medieval peasant.

I always bring this up, automation is what made slavery profitable in the south. When the cotton gin was invented slaveowners didn’t start using less slaves for the same out put of cotton. They started buying more slaves to increase the output of cotton with a higher profit margin. That’s what happens anytime we see a new form of automation, companies don’t reduce work hours and keep the pay the same, they try to increase production and the workers that were replaced will be made to do some other menial task machines can’t do, and they will also be made to work 40hrs a week. This whole automation thin increasing our quality of life is a total fucking myth.

source

Sort:hotnew top

jimbolauski@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
This notion that medevil peasants worked less and were somehow better off is ridiculous. I’d gladly work an extra 20 hours a week for indoor plumbing, electricity, cars, cell phones, modern medical care, education, lack of dragons,…

source
- Shadywack@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  
  modern medical care, education
  
  The wealthy have done a fantastic job of taking those away, along with social security and retirement. Be clear, your plumbing, electricity, cars, and cell phones are absolutely on the chopping block as the gap gets wider.
  
  source
  - jimbolauski@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Do you not have access to medical care or education?
    
    source
    Shadywack@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    I have access to an emergency room in exchange for bankruptcy, and higher education is only attainable through a loan that rivals the size of a mortgage from 10 years ago.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
- noxy@yiffit.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  
  lack of dragons
  
  Speak for yourself, jeez! I’d gladly pick up a second job in exchange for dragons existing :P
  
  source
30mag@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

That’s what happens anytime we see a new form of automation, companies don’t reduce work hours and keep the pay the same, they try to increase production and the workers that were replaced will be made to do some other menial task machines can’t do, and they will also be made to work 40hrs a week.

I understand your point, and it is probably true for some companies and some jobs. However, it doesn’t apply to telephone switchboard operators, bank tellers, movie projectionists, pinsetters, lamplighters, elevator operators, etc. These are jobs which don’t have an impact on the production or manufacturing of a product.

I always bring this up, automation is what made slavery profitable in the south. When the cotton gin was invented slaveowners didn’t start using less slaves for the same out put of cotton.

I understand that you’re talking about the cotton gin because it improved productivity, but the cotton gin used in the early 1800’s is an example of mechanization, not automation. It’s like a reel lawnmower, which is an improvement over a scythe, but there’s nothing automatic about it. This distinction doesn’t make much difference here, in the context of productivity.

source