“I think the big companies are betting on it causing massive job replacement by AI, because that’s where the big money is going to be.”
Reminder that the Luddites were not against mechanization, and not just made at the loom and nothing else.
They were a pro-worker movement who want to see the increase in efficiency translate to less hours for more overall pay, instead of just a drastic reduction in the amount of jobs with weekly earnings remaining unchanged.
They got made a joke, because they did gain some ground.
The looks were expensive and located in a central location, so that’s where Luddite activity was focused. A modern equivalent would be something like all the AI data centers being built nationwide against locals wishes.
Especially before construction is finished. Delays in construction are very expensive and not exactly covered by insurance to my knowledge.
ExtremeDullard@piefed.social 1 day ago
This race to displace human labor with AI is a typical late-stage capitalism race to the bottom because it ignores something fundamental: workers are also consumers. No job, no money, no purchases.
In other words, all companies embracing AI are collectively working their ass off to destroy their own and everybody else’s markets. It’s global economic suicide.
But… capitalism being what it is and doing what it does, it only looks at what the competition does, expenses and no further than the next quarter. So corporations see AI as a way to reduce expenses and get ahead of the competition that does the same thing.
They all know AI will destroy everything eventually, including themselves, if they all do the same thing. But they can’t help it: corporations look no further than their own selfish interests with the narrowest possible set of criteria, and the bigger picture be damned. Always.
Makeitstop@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Assuming they actually believe their technology is capable of replacing the majority of human labor in the not so distant future, they ought to be pushing for UBI. Having everyone get a guaranteed income would help ensure that there is still consumer demand capable of supporting their businesses. And it would help fend off the backlash that would come from taking jobs from a massive portion of the population.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Welcome to my thought process circa 2015.
salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 1 day ago
They’re planning on most of us being dead one way or the other. The Planetary Solvency report predicts about half of humanity dead at +3C warming, which is basically guaranteed now before the end of the century, and likely way sooner than that. So the billionaire tech bros and fascists, instead of trying to mitigate the now unavoidable climate hell, are trying to extract all the talent and wealth they can from the rest of us before we all starve to death.
Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 1 day ago
They’re trying to replace the labor of the half of humanity that’s gonna die.
shalafi@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Capitalism ain’t the problem. Capitalism for the economy and democracy for the government is the best we humans have figured out. Problem being, money, as in any system, has been funneled to the top. The top took our vote via lack of education and media control, and it has been snowballing for the last 20-30 years. Now we’re too ignorant and misled to vote in our own best interests. We’re seeing the end game, the end game of any unregulated system.
Said many times, almost every evil of capitalism gets nullified when the government disallows and breaks monopolies and megacorps. Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, argued vehemently against monopolies.
Having grown up in the 70s and 80s, I am stunned by what is allowed. A handful of corporations own and control our health, food, entertainment, news, banking, everything. Education is the one thing that’s not wholly corporate, and the oligarchs have had that sector in their sights for decades.
And they’re not after education merely to skim more money. Education in history, math, critical thinking, is how they can be beaten. FFS, we’re repeating the mistakes of exactly a century ago, people can’t figure when back-of-the-napkin math doesn’t make sense and can’t tell when they’re being conned. I see the latter two on lemmy, daily.
Blaming capitalism is as naive as saying, “Trump did this!”. We can acheive nothing but backlash. Instead say, “The GOP did this!” (politically) and “The billionaires did this!” (economically). Words matter if you want to win hearts and minds.
serendepity@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The problem is, though, that money allows politicians in a democracy to run a better, more effective campaign. So whichever politician gets the support of rich people is more likely to win. In that sense, modern democracies aren’t equitable systems anymore. One person with does not mean one vote anymore because one person with a billion dollars has an outsized influence. You correctly identified the problem that a handful of corporations control own and control the essential services we need to live our lives but that’s because capitalism allows that. Capitalism _is _ the problem.
p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 hours ago
Capitalism was the system the rich wanted to ensure they still had a foothold. In the past, it was fiefdoms and land ownership. Then a bunch of rich Americans got together (the founding fathers) and democracy wasn’t going see the light of day unless there was some level of compromise, and they got to keep their power in some way. Democracy was supposed to be a counterbalance, yes, but capitalism isn’t actually necessary for a functional society.
Ever since humanity evolved into a barter system, the enemy has always been the rich and powerful (who also happen to be rich), and the tools they use to keep themselves in power. Never ever forget that.
salacious_coaster@infosec.pub 1 day ago
Well said. Capitalism is just the means by which most of the world allocates scarce resources, and it’s by far the best way of doing so we’ve ever tried. The problem is massive systemic corruption, not the economic system itself.
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
They want us all in the service industry.
snooggums@piefed.world 1 day ago
They want to replace service jobs with AI too.