Sometimes, I wonder how people would feel about AI if the initial LLM hype was framed as “This is going to make a 30-hour work week possible.” Instead they went with “This is going to cause massive unemployment and maybe destroy the world.”
@bobwertz Yes and nobody ever properly answered IF they did that whether people’s income would actually remain the same:
> if people are working 4 days, not 5, then they are working 20% less. To let them work less and not pay them less is the equivalent of companies giving each of those people a ~20% salary increase.
@JohnPhilpin Very true. Maybe if everyone was working 20% less with the same salary, the attitude towards data centers would be a little different. The environmental impact might even be offset by the reduced commuting.
@bobwertz but corporates don’t think that way - hell - they argue over increases of 1% !!
@bobwertz I’d feel that a.) since the 30-hour work week has been forecast by almost every single technological advance since the beginning of the 20th century, I’d say we were being lied to and suckered in once again (is anyone still working a 40-hour work week?). The only thing that has ever shortened the work week has been unionization, not corporation beneficence. And b.) what is the cost of that 30-hour work week in terms of resources? Am I getting a 30-hour work week at the expense of the environmental damage caused by massive data centers? No thanks.
@bobwertz Oh, and c.) how soon would the clawback begin? Remember WFH? If you actually did get the 30-hour work week, you can bet over time corporations would begin expecting “increased productivity,” i.e. work more hours. No matter how you present it, AI will always be nothing but an extraction tool for corporations: extracting more data and personal information from consumers, and eventually more work and expectations from workers.
@therivertao Very true. But the AI company promising the potential of a 30-hour work week wouldn’t actually be on the hook for anything but their own employees. It just seems like a better sales pitch than we’re going to make everyone unemployed.
@therivertao My argument is less about the reality of moving to a shorter work week and more about the marketing and PR coming from the AI companies. I agree that somehow getting to a 30-hour work week would have to start with unionization.
@bobwertz Seems doubtful anyone would buy that line imo. We've had many automated processes and technical improvements over the centuries and none of them have led to shorter work weeks. They've just led to an expectation of higher output. Right?
Maybe. But AI companies are claiming that they can cure all disease. Doesn’t seem like believability is high on their list. I guess I was just thinking about a public relations approach. Claiming that you are going to make many jobs obsolete… maybe not the best spin to start with.