• MataVatnik@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    41
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    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 thing increasing our quality of life is a total fucking myth.

    • SK4nda1@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      1 year ago

      I sort of agree in that the fruits of automation shoud be distributed through government and taxes. Its cool that things get more efficient and the world isnt a zero sum game anymore, but if everything in exess of that zero goes to only a few people things won’t get better for everyone.

      • MataVatnik@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Better policy is definitely needed. We could be living in a utopia right now working three days a week.

          • MataVatnik@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            At a certain point automation becomes so efficient that it becomes unprofitable to produce certain goods because they can essentially be made for free. So then corporations don’t invest in it and so it is no longer produced. It’s already happened with other things, but this is somewhere where the public sector could step in.

            It’s tricky I don’t know how it would be best regulated, but companies are run like totalitarian dictatorships. Large companies, especially public companies should be regulated to benefit the people and the workers. Right now publicly traded companies are incentivized legally to maximamize profit regardless if it’s at the expense of employees, the environment and citizens. Maybe federally mandating a coop structure for businesses so businesses are run more democratically could be another solution.

    • jimbolauski@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      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,…

      • Noxy@yiffit.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        lack of dragons

        Speak for yourself, jeez! I’d gladly pick up a second job in exchange for dragons existing :P

      • Shadywack@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        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.

          • Shadywack@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            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.

            • jimbolauski@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              5
              ·
              1 year ago

              Do you have access to clinics or family medicine?

              Do you have access to community colleges and trade schools?

              • Shadywack@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                Quite frankly no, due to them being cost prohibitive. Myself and many others forego healthcare due to the bills we know we can’t afford, thanks to obscenely high deductibles.

                No, community colleges and trade schools are also prohibitively expensive for most people unless you take out a student loan that rivals what mortgages were just 10 years ago.

                It’s as if you don’t go outside and touch grass, or talk to common people. I’m guessing we should just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, except we don’t have socks, let alone shoes or boots with straps to even tug on. Fuck you’re annoying.

                “Do you have access? blah blah blah fucking blah I don’t read shit or have a clue about what reality actually looks like”

                • jimbolauski@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  4
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  You choosing to forgo medical care, or higher learning is your choice, you still have access to it. You may be one of the bottom 1%, where being a barely literate peasant is an improvement on your life.