True, but hammers don't have families and bills to pay.
Note: We also now have nail guns. Technology is inescapable.
At the moment most physical labor is safe. LLMs can't use hammers (or nail buns). However, check out the advances in robotics. At what point will an AI combined with near human robotics replace laborers? Impossible to tell, but my bet is it will happen in my lifetime. At least to a certain degree.
A friend loves using AI for writing and is encouraging me to do the same. I responded that I don't mind using AI to check for grammar errors, but using it to write will just dumb me down. I need to struggle with a subject to understand it. I want to master topics and not be mastered. But time does go on and we often appreciate the technology we initially feared. I read that when phones were introduced, people worried that it would reduce personal interactions. And, that may be true as the friendly front porches my grandmother and her neighbors used don't exist, but it also opened the door for greater communication and relationships from those at a distance. While I despise what neo-Marxism has wrought on society, I can appreciate the warnings given about the rise of advertising and unfettered capitalism. Humans are being reduced to mere existence instead of an essence/existing by relentless advertising and predatory capitalism, which squeezes people as if they were a tube of toothpaste. Ironically, they accelerated this slide by demanding that faith, family, and flag be removed as boundaries.
I've asked AI to check my grammar and spelling and when it offers I've let it rewrite my pieces. I've never posted it's version but I have taken select sentences from it. I think reading it's suggestions helps because while I usually keep what I've written as a style choice sometimes I think "ya, that's much better." The line between editing and style is a fine one.
Everyone is responsible for themselves. If "you" allow yourself to be influenced by advertising that's a personal decision.
Fun read with a serious message. AI is a tool. Elevator operators lasted several generations, but even today, elevator technicians and engineers are in demand.
Elevator Technicians:
Average Salary: Around $78,735 per year in New York, according to ZipRecruiter.
Salary Range: Can range from $52,500 to $107,762 annually, according to ZipRecruiter.
Hourly Rate: Can range from $34 to $210 per hour depending on experience, location, and whether they are unionized, according to ZipRecruiter.
Elevator Engineers:
Average Salary: The average annual salary for an Elevator Engineer in New York, NY is $93,574, according to Salary.com.
Salary Range: Can range from $80,428 to $108,565, according to Salary.com.
Tools will always need to be repaired and improved.
That’s why years ago I bought a bar—people need to drink when they lose old jobs and when they get new ones. Plus you can’t offshore a bar and AI will only drive more people to drink.
This was a good read. What particularly interests me is that jobs like elevator operator are not just single phenomena but are bound up in networks of relationships such as social, economic and so on. These are also human beings. I am just old enough to remember the last of the elevator operators; as I recall they were all women. I wonder, with these jobs that have gone, what happened to the people who performed them? What were the personal, social and economic costs? Who were these people in terms of gender, class, location, and so on? What are the consequences, across society and the economy, when a class of employment shrinks and eventually vanishes?
My grandmother worked as a switchboard operator. I would think that most of the jobs that can be replaced by AI and automation were blue collar and more lower skilled white collar jobs (clerks for example). It looks like AI is about to do the same for higher level white collar jobs.
When we examine these trends at the level of populations we see shifts in occupations. When we do the same at the individual level we see tragedy and hardship (sometimes).
My purpose was not to argue that this will be painless but to argue against the "end of the world" narrative that so many, often dishonestly, push.
You know what you see on every job site and in every workshop? A hammer. Some things can never be replaced.
True, but hammers don't have families and bills to pay.
Note: We also now have nail guns. Technology is inescapable.
At the moment most physical labor is safe. LLMs can't use hammers (or nail buns). However, check out the advances in robotics. At what point will an AI combined with near human robotics replace laborers? Impossible to tell, but my bet is it will happen in my lifetime. At least to a certain degree.
Jobs replaced by automation and technology:
Switchboard operator: These individuals manually connected phone calls using switchboards. Digital systems now handle this automatically.
Linotype operator: Operated machines that created metal type for printing, largely replaced by digital printing.
Human computers: People who performed complex calculations by hand, now replaced by computer programs and algorithms.
Film projectionist: Operated film projectors in cinemas, but digital projection has become the standard.
Pinsetter: Manually reset bowling pins in bowling alleys, now automated.
Factory and Warehouse Workers: Many tasks are now automated by AI-powered machines and robots.
Truck and Taxi Drivers: Self-driving technology is increasing, potentially impacting these roles.
Bank Tellers and Clerks: Replaced by ATMs and online banking.
Typists and Secretaries: The widespread use of computers and word processors has made these jobs largely obsolete.
Dispatchers: Advanced GPS and AI systems are making human dispatchers less necessary.
Other obsolete or nearly obsolete jobs:
Knocker-upper: People hired to wake others up before alarm clocks were common.
Lamplighter: Lit and extinguished gas street lamps, replaced by electric lights.
Ice cutter: Harvested natural ice before the widespread availability of refrigeration.
Resurrectionist (Body Snatcher): Illegally exhumed bodies for medical schools.
Town Crier: Publicly announced news and official proclamations.
Leech collector: Collected leeches for medical use when bloodletting was practiced.
Gandy dancer: Railroad worker who maintained the tracks.
Scribe: Copied manuscripts and documents by hand.
Milkman: Delivered milk directly to homes.
Caddy butcher: Butchered and sold horse meat.
Toshers: Searched sewers for valuable items.
Mud clerk: Support staff on steamboats during the American Civil War.
Herb strewer: Used herbs to mask odors in buildings.
Toad doctor: Used toads for medicinal purposes.
Daguerreotypist: Operated an early type of camera.
Nomenclator: Announced the names of guests.
Lector: Read aloud to factory workers for entertainment.
Hush shopkeeper: Sold alcohol during Prohibition.
Alchemist: Tried to turn substances into gold and create magical elixirs.
Telegram messenger: Delivered printed messages transmitted by telegraph.
Drysalter: Sold chemical products.
Crossing sweeper: Swept paths for pedestrians in dirty streets.
Soda jerk: Served drinks and made milkshakes at soda fountains.
Plague doctor: Treated those infected with the Bubonic Plague.
Bematist: Measured distances by walking.
Cigarette girl: Sold cigarettes in bars and clubs.
Phrenologist: Studied the shape of heads to determine personality.
Broomsquire: Made and sold brooms.
Gong farmer: Dug out feces from privies.
Wheelwright: Made wooden wheels.
Mursmäcka: Handed mortar to construction workers in Sweden.
Who taught AI the non-word decade-ish?
AI is like a magic 8-ball, you can ask it anything.
A friend loves using AI for writing and is encouraging me to do the same. I responded that I don't mind using AI to check for grammar errors, but using it to write will just dumb me down. I need to struggle with a subject to understand it. I want to master topics and not be mastered. But time does go on and we often appreciate the technology we initially feared. I read that when phones were introduced, people worried that it would reduce personal interactions. And, that may be true as the friendly front porches my grandmother and her neighbors used don't exist, but it also opened the door for greater communication and relationships from those at a distance. While I despise what neo-Marxism has wrought on society, I can appreciate the warnings given about the rise of advertising and unfettered capitalism. Humans are being reduced to mere existence instead of an essence/existing by relentless advertising and predatory capitalism, which squeezes people as if they were a tube of toothpaste. Ironically, they accelerated this slide by demanding that faith, family, and flag be removed as boundaries.
I've asked AI to check my grammar and spelling and when it offers I've let it rewrite my pieces. I've never posted it's version but I have taken select sentences from it. I think reading it's suggestions helps because while I usually keep what I've written as a style choice sometimes I think "ya, that's much better." The line between editing and style is a fine one.
Everyone is responsible for themselves. If "you" allow yourself to be influenced by advertising that's a personal decision.
Fun read with a serious message. AI is a tool. Elevator operators lasted several generations, but even today, elevator technicians and engineers are in demand.
Elevator Technicians:
Average Salary: Around $78,735 per year in New York, according to ZipRecruiter.
Salary Range: Can range from $52,500 to $107,762 annually, according to ZipRecruiter.
Hourly Rate: Can range from $34 to $210 per hour depending on experience, location, and whether they are unionized, according to ZipRecruiter.
Elevator Engineers:
Average Salary: The average annual salary for an Elevator Engineer in New York, NY is $93,574, according to Salary.com.
Salary Range: Can range from $80,428 to $108,565, according to Salary.com.
Tools will always need to be repaired and improved.
Yep. The fact that some jobs become obsolete is a sign of progress, not impending social implosion.
Then again, you can't sell a book or get a high paying consulting gig by saying "everything is going to be ok."
That’s why years ago I bought a bar—people need to drink when they lose old jobs and when they get new ones. Plus you can’t offshore a bar and AI will only drive more people to drink.
This was a good read. What particularly interests me is that jobs like elevator operator are not just single phenomena but are bound up in networks of relationships such as social, economic and so on. These are also human beings. I am just old enough to remember the last of the elevator operators; as I recall they were all women. I wonder, with these jobs that have gone, what happened to the people who performed them? What were the personal, social and economic costs? Who were these people in terms of gender, class, location, and so on? What are the consequences, across society and the economy, when a class of employment shrinks and eventually vanishes?
Thanks.
My grandmother worked as a switchboard operator. I would think that most of the jobs that can be replaced by AI and automation were blue collar and more lower skilled white collar jobs (clerks for example). It looks like AI is about to do the same for higher level white collar jobs.
When we examine these trends at the level of populations we see shifts in occupations. When we do the same at the individual level we see tragedy and hardship (sometimes).
My purpose was not to argue that this will be painless but to argue against the "end of the world" narrative that so many, often dishonestly, push.
Thanks for reading Douglas.
Yep. Your second paragraph here nails it.