This is a very good analysis. I have had similar thoughts, and for years now, even before ChatGPT, have advised teenagers to avoid university unless they intend to be eg engineers or doctors, because the majority of office jobs it prepares them for will be displaced by AI. As you note, there are political implications given the jobs that are resistant to automation.
I wonder if many of those displaced might find themselves working in agriculture - small permaculture farms, requiring intensive human labor to prosper but capable of producing high caloric return and greatly improved nourishment (minerals and such) as compared to industrial ag products. It would be ironic if the cyborg economy results in a return to 80% employment in agriculture. But there is a great need here, our food supply is terrible, and there are no technological solutions. And I think people would be happier.
Thank you, and I am glad that you advise young people to take up careers in the trades. We desperately need people who can do real jobs.
What you propose about agriculture is fascinating. I was always resigned to the belief that the elite would make us 'EAT ZE BUGZZ' -- but if the political situation tilts towards conservatives, then people will demand organic food and a ban on seed oils. This in turn would require more labour-intensive farm work.
Yes, exactly ... well at least dissident right types, honestly if you talk to most tradies you find that they quaff seed oils and HFCS in large quantities without blinking. To a degree this is because healthy local etc. food has been coded as a left-wing hippy issue for affluent knowledge workers, although I think this has changed quite a bit over the last few years.
The other factor that may lead in this direction is simple necessity. Collapse of the dollar combined with AI-driven disemployment will mean a lot of hungry people, whom the state will have problems feeding even if it would like to feed everyone plant-based soyburgers. Victory gardens could make a big comeback as a simple short-term necessity, and maybe this then expands into something more permanent.
Insightful points. It is true that most conservatives don't blink twice about seed oils and organic foods. It is very possible that as long as the state rejects outright genocide, victory gardens could make a comeback in the midst of a crisis.
However, given the erosion of soil quality over the past century, I wonder whether the yield on victory gardens would be worthwhile. The seeds one purchases in shops are also of lower quality than prior decades.
That being said, there may be fewer hungry mouths to feed as the Boomers die out naturally.
Boomerdeath will hopefully lead to cheaper land and housing, as well.
Soil quality is absolutely a huge issue. Regenerative agriculture is extremely important now. Problem is, it is labour-intensive. Ah but wait ... we're about to make a large number of hungry mouths redundant....
This is a very good analysis. I have had similar thoughts, and for years now, even before ChatGPT, have advised teenagers to avoid university unless they intend to be eg engineers or doctors, because the majority of office jobs it prepares them for will be displaced by AI. As you note, there are political implications given the jobs that are resistant to automation.
I wonder if many of those displaced might find themselves working in agriculture - small permaculture farms, requiring intensive human labor to prosper but capable of producing high caloric return and greatly improved nourishment (minerals and such) as compared to industrial ag products. It would be ironic if the cyborg economy results in a return to 80% employment in agriculture. But there is a great need here, our food supply is terrible, and there are no technological solutions. And I think people would be happier.
Thank you, and I am glad that you advise young people to take up careers in the trades. We desperately need people who can do real jobs.
What you propose about agriculture is fascinating. I was always resigned to the belief that the elite would make us 'EAT ZE BUGZZ' -- but if the political situation tilts towards conservatives, then people will demand organic food and a ban on seed oils. This in turn would require more labour-intensive farm work.
Yes, exactly ... well at least dissident right types, honestly if you talk to most tradies you find that they quaff seed oils and HFCS in large quantities without blinking. To a degree this is because healthy local etc. food has been coded as a left-wing hippy issue for affluent knowledge workers, although I think this has changed quite a bit over the last few years.
The other factor that may lead in this direction is simple necessity. Collapse of the dollar combined with AI-driven disemployment will mean a lot of hungry people, whom the state will have problems feeding even if it would like to feed everyone plant-based soyburgers. Victory gardens could make a big comeback as a simple short-term necessity, and maybe this then expands into something more permanent.
Insightful points. It is true that most conservatives don't blink twice about seed oils and organic foods. It is very possible that as long as the state rejects outright genocide, victory gardens could make a comeback in the midst of a crisis.
However, given the erosion of soil quality over the past century, I wonder whether the yield on victory gardens would be worthwhile. The seeds one purchases in shops are also of lower quality than prior decades.
That being said, there may be fewer hungry mouths to feed as the Boomers die out naturally.
Boomerdeath will hopefully lead to cheaper land and housing, as well.
Soil quality is absolutely a huge issue. Regenerative agriculture is extremely important now. Problem is, it is labour-intensive. Ah but wait ... we're about to make a large number of hungry mouths redundant....
https://www.brunettegardens.com/
Trying to promote this exact idea.
The voting record of teachers is pretty interesting...