So here’s the thing… In between the land of “shitty service jobs” and the land of “fully automated luxury” lies the vast desert of “reverse-centaurs”.
Right now, when “AI” takes over 60% of a job, that remaining 40% becomes a brutal dehumanizing gauntlet: the “human-in-the-loop” becomes a peripheral for the computer, manipulated into working at the speed that the computer prefers, like Lucy in the chocolate factory, until they’re used up and replaced. Think Amazon warehouse pickers or drivers.
Part of the problem is that this exploitation is hidden from consumers. When we see a fellow laborer suffering horrible conditions in a public-facing service job, we’re much more likely to throw a fit than when they’re hidden behind a sleek UI.
With no guarantee that we’ll ever make it through to the other side of the desert, I’d be perfectly content to stay on this side of it.
Muaddib@sopuli.xyz 5 months ago
I think in the socialist utopia where everyone does only what they want to do, there would be shopkeepers. I’ve volunteered at a food bank, and I quite enjoyed it. I don’t think anyone would spend their life a shopkeeper. I think people would wander in, do it for a few months, and then move on.
BCsven@lemmy.ca 5 months ago
In a socialist utopia would you need a shop keeper, or would the government run delivery service just bring stuff to your house weekly? I’m thinking back to my youth when the milkman (or woman) would drive their electric truck to each house and drop off milk, cream and orange juice every morning.
Then the sparrows or tits would come and Peck holes in the top of the cream and gobble the good stuff off the top.