> power loom
When the power loom came around, what happened with most seamtresses? Did they move on to become fashion designers, materials engineers to create new fabrics, chemists to create new color dyes, or did they simply retire or were driven out of the workforce?
There were riots and many people died. Many people lost their jobs. I didn't say this is good but it is happening. As individuals we should act to protect ourselves from these changes.
That might mean joining a union and trying to influence how AI is adopted where you work. It might mean changing which if your skills you lean on most. But just whining about AI is bad is how you end up like those seamstresses.
> Many people lost their jobs.
On the other hand, a lot of those jobs were offshored to places where labor is cheaper. It would be interesting to compare how many people work in the textile industry in Bangladesh today compared to the US 50 years ago.
> joining a union and trying to influence how AI is adopted where you work.
Did the strong unions for car manufacturers in Detroit protected the long term stability of the profession? Did it ensure that the Rust belt was still a thriving economic area?
> Just whining about AI is bad
I'm not whining. I just think that we are witnessing the end of "knowledge workers" and a further compression of the middle class. Given that I'm smack in the middle of my economically active years (turning 45 this year), I am trying to figure out where this puck is going and whether I will be fast enough to skate there to catch it.
On the other hand, a lot of those jobs were offshored to places where labor is cheaper. It would be interesting to compare how many people work in the textile industry in Bangladesh today compared to the US 50 years ago.
I believe this is a major part of it. People cannot fathom what the industrial countries look like because basically nothing is made in the west anymore. There are literally hundreds of millions of people, maybe billions that work towards making the western economies profitable who get paid nothing to do it and live in filthy polluted slums for everyone else's benefit.
Looms might speed up the process but I guarantee there are thousands of people working in the poorest countries on earth to make it all happen.
Interestingly, AI seems to be massively polluting and while the west has absorbed some of it, it's probably not long until we see more of the data centers being built in poorer countries where the environment can be exploited even harder.