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by pixl979 hours ago |
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upvoteby cenamus9 hours ago|
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And the blacksmiths losing their jobs are not allowed to feel bad about it?
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upvoteby rootusrootus9 hours ago|
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Especially anyone in their 40s or 50s who is close enough to retirement that a career shift is unappealing but far enough from retirement that a layoff now would meaningfully change that timeline or QOL. I don't blame people for feeling uneasy.

I'm probably 7 or 8 years from an easy retirement myself, so I can appreciate how that feels. Nobody really wants to feel disruption at this age, especially when they're the breadwinner for a family.

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upvoteby chasd007 hours ago|
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> far enough from retirement that a layoff now would meaningfully change that timeline or QOL

yeah this is where i am. Turning 50 in April, I have two boys about to hit college and the bills associated with that and i have 15 years before i'm forced to retire. I have to up the salary to pay/help for college and i have to keep the 401k maxed + catchups maxed over the next 15 years to pull off retirement. The change from AI is scary, it may be good for me or it may be devastating. Staring down that barrel and making career decisions with no room for error (no time to rebuild) is pretty harrowing.

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upvoteby pixl979 hours ago|
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You either become a foreman operating the machines or a Luddite burning them.
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upvoteby tavavex6 hours ago|
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What if in reality it's not one or the other, but having 10% odds of being good enough to be selected to become a technician operating the machines, 10% odds of getting so enraged as to dedicate your lives to pushing back, and 80% odds of being shoved out due to lower demand and value of your work, having to go do something else, if you still can?
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upvoteby 52-6F-629 hours ago|
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No. By this logic, if they wanted to stay with the times they should have sought capital investment for their own industrial forges, joined their local lodges, climbed the ranks, lobbied their governments for loose safety regulations, and plied their workers with propaganda about how "we're in a recession and have to tighten our belts".

Think of the wonderful world we could have if everyone just got their shit together and became paper trillionaire technocrats.

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upvoteby pixl978 hours ago|
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The software world pretty much demanded this outcome.

Go back 10 years and post "SWE's should form labor unions"

Then watch as your post drops to [dead] and people scream "How dare you rob me of theoretical millions of dollars I'll be making".

I wonder how many of these same downvoters are now worried about getting replaced with AI.

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upvoteby varjag4 hours ago|
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Let's keep it real. No union would save your jobs against a manyfold productivity gain of machines.
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upvoteby lowbloodsugar9 hours ago|
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Some of them feel bad about it and some of them refined metallurgy to build Saturn V rockets and go to space. We are very much living in the new space race. The discussion here is split 50/50 between the “Thank you! I feel the same way” folks and the “I am having the time of my life!” folks.
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upvoteby newsoftheday9 hours ago|
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Blacksmiths were replaced by factories which produced deterministic products with 100% predictability.

AI can't produce code yet with 100% predictability. If that day ever arrives, the blacksmith analogy will be apt.

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upvoteby pixl978 hours ago|
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>with 100% predictability.

Not sure what world you're from, but lots of products get sent back to the manufacture because they break.

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upvoteby sisnxb8 hours ago|
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[dead]
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