Facebook Co-Founder Says Technology Will Continue Destroying Jobs

[rgMekanic]

In an interview with CNBC, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes said that thinks that technology is going to "continue to destroy work." He also states that Americans who make less than $50k a year should be given a government stipend of $500 per month, as long as you are working. The boost he says should be similar to the earned income tax credit, but expanded, modernized, and made flat.

I see where Chris is coming from, and I can relate for sure, I was let go from a job I was at for over 10 years with the reason of "position eliminated due to technology." I will also say as someone who makes less than $50k a year, while $500 a month won't pay for much on its own, the fact he only extends it to those in the workforce makes sense.

Under his plan, Hughes said, "As long as you're working for your country, your country takes care of you." He explained, "If you make less than $50,000 a year, and you're working, you get $500 as a guaranteed income in the background every month via direct deposit or a debit card."

 

[Ultima99]

And not long after the robots destroy our jobs they will destroy us...

 

[PeaKr]

As long as the money comes from fb, apl, m$, ggle, amzon, etc.. and is not printed up out of thin air by the gov im down!

 

[Deleted member 204526]

If you're making close to $50,000, avoid all raises, and tell the boss to go eff himself if he wants you to work overtime.

 

[trparky]

I will also say as someone who makes less than $50k a year, while $500 a month won't pay for much on its own, the fact he only extends it to those in the workforce makes sense.

I agree and I agree even more on the work requirement. Some of us just need a little help, a little boost, and that's all that we need; just a little something more to help make ends meet.

 

[alxlwson]

This is fucking hilarious. What an idiot.

 

[tetris42]

Robots destroy jobs so there are less jobs, got it.
We should pay more money, but only to the people who have jobs, uh okay.
So what about the people who don't have jobs, because there will be more and more of them. Do nothing?

Truly, this man is a visionary.

 

[oldmanbal]

I remember when bush (#2) gifted like 700 or 800 dollars in the mail one day during his presidency, and watched 3 people in the bank line in front of me cashing the check the same day it came in. Pretty sure that went back into the economy almost instantly, so it's a win win right?

 

[Inu]

There are jobs, just no one wants them. To provide an extra $500 flat for just working any job? That's not bad.

 

[Jim Kim]

I would like 500k a month, 500 doesn't even cover the hookers and blow budget.

 

[Blakestr]

There are jobs, just no one wants them. To provide an extra $500 flat for just working any job? That's not bad.

There was a really great TED talk how there have been these scares in the past, like when the automobile came out or the industrial revolution, those workers shifted to jobs in a new industry.

THIS IS SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Machine learning is more than just a fancy algorithm - there are computers that can beat Grandmaster at GO, a game that relies on intuition more than brute force. (unlike chess, you can't really brute force your way to winning a game of Go, since there are more combinations of moves than there are atoms in the universe)

The number of jobs will SHRINK and by an order of magnitude. And the competition will grow, because it's easier to learn skills than in the past. Look at massive online courses, look at Udemy or the MIT courses that are FREE. There are more than two basic people, the "go getters" and the "moochers who binge on netflix all day."

Software tools have been "smarter" and more efficient. Look at game engines - a single developer can do what would have taken 5 or 10 developers just a few years ago, thanks to procedural generation and other smart tools. (They have a tool that automatically combines 3D models into a single model for a single draw call...automatically) ...

 

[buttons]

There was a really great TED talk how there have been these scares in the past, like when the automobile came out or the industrial revolution, those workers shifted to jobs in a new industry.

THIS IS SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

Machine learning is more than just a fancy algorithm - there are computers that can beat Grandmaster at GO, a game that relies on intuition more than brute force. (unlike chess, you can't really brute force your way to winning a game of Go, since there are more combinations of moves than there are atoms in the universe)

The number of jobs will SHRINK and by an order of magnitude. And the competition will grow, because it's easier to learn skills than in the past. Look at massive online courses, look at Udemy or the MIT courses that are FREE. There are more than two basic people, the "go getters" and the "moochers who binge on netflix all day."

Software tools have been "smarter" and more efficient. Look at game engines - a single developer can do what would have taken 5 or 10 developers just a few years ago, thanks to procedural generation and other smart tools. (They have a tool that automatically combines 3D models into a single model for a single draw call...automatically) ...

When the time comes that my job is eliminated, i hope I have enough video cards to just mine at home and cover my mortgage and some groceries...

 

[Chunder]

Sooo basically UBI, but far less $$$$....

 

[tetris42]

Sooo basically UBI, but far less $$$$....

And minus the "universal" part.

 

[DukenukemX]

Don't worry, the free market will fix everything. Trickle down economics really works. Just keep believing, like Jesus but jobs instead.

 

[JokerCPoC]

If one is not able to work, and some aren't due to accidents, surgery, and good ol father time, $500 is good if one works, if one doesn't it should be a flat $20,000.00 a year, or about $1666.67 a month.

 

[daglesj]

I remember when bush (#2) gifted like 700 or 800 dollars in the mail one day during his presidency, and watched 3 people in the bank line in front of me cashing the check the same day it came in. Pretty sure that went back into the economy almost instantly, so it's a win win right?

The thing folks forget is the poor spend their money because they have to. Rich people take money and hide it.

Giving money to poor people creates demand and demand creates jobs. But folks will still deny this.

Basically if the bottom 30% of the population get frozen out economically how are the likes of Walmart and McDonalds going to function?

I bet the Koch brothers don't buy many Big Macs or Ford F150s.

The current world economic model is not sustainable. It either has to change or there will be serious trouble ahead for the establishment.

 

[daglesj]

When the time comes that my job is eliminated, i hope I have enough video cards to just mine at home and cover my mortgage and some groceries...

You forgot to factor in the $500 month power bill! Doh!

 

[Jumpy-B-L]

Please, Mr. Gubment, subsidize this economic system that is failing humanity and destroying the Earth. I can't pay my employees a decent, livable wage. I can't bear the thought of having to sell one of my vacation homes, one of my boats and the downtown penthouse my mistress occupies. Clearly this is the best system humans ever have and ever will put together, I just need a little taxpayer help to make it work.

P.S. Please send the poor to fight, kill other poor people and die so I can sell more stuff.

P.S.S. I just had a great idea, Mr. Gubment! Start a really BIG war so we can get rid of a lot of these pesky, needy losers. I think I've earned a diplomatic or advisory post, Mr. Gubment.

With class and refinement,
Cappy Talism III

 

[BitMaster]

It will come down to 5% being emplyed and 95% being forced out of work.

Those 5% will by a large number consist of Truck drivers, to deliver goods from amazon and ebay to you...ehhhh OHH I forgot, how shall those 95% pay anything they order ?? Oooops,Houston, we have a problem !


Tho I order too at amazon, they steal your future and give you no option other than help them destroy what we once had.

 

[daglesj]

It will come down to 5% being emplyed and 95% being forced out of work.

Those 5% will by a large number consist of Truck drivers, to deliver goods from amazon and ebay to you...ehhhh OHH I forgot, how shall those 95% pay anything they order ?? Oooops,Houston, we have a problem !


Tho I order too at amazon, they steal your future and give you no option other than help them destroy what we once had.

Yeah how does a consumer economy work when your consumers have no money to consume with?

 

[daglesj]

P.S.S. I just had a great idea, Mr. Gubment! Start a really BIG war so we can get rid of a lot of these pesky, needy losers. I think I've earned a diplomatic or advisory post, Mr. Gubment.

With class and refinement,
Cappy Talism III

War is a great distraction too. It's inevitable.

 

[Crimson]

War is a great distraction too. It's inevitable.

Past Roman Caesars would have wars and host games to distract people during shitty times.

 

[serious]

Technology does not destroy jobs, big coop and rich business people destroy jobs so they can have your money.

 

[Master_shake_]

i'm so glad these tech billionaires have their finger on the pulse of what the middle class wants/needs.

thanks guys

oh and by the way when the human revolt starts, you're going to be the first to go.

 

[che]

One of those lessons I learned many many years ago, is that in a way it does not matter how much money you make, but more of your discipline to budget and live within your means. For my job I am in other people's homes daily, working in close contact with their families. I have been in many "rich" homes where the people are struggling to make ends meet. (of course i am not talking about the 1% truly rich here)

People can easily spend whatever they make, and still be "poor", or better said "living paycheck-to-paycheck." Just giving someone extra money does not inherently help them. Now once again, I'm talking more in general terms. But people need to learn to make a budget, tell their money what to do. I drank the Dave Ramsey Kool-Aid 14 years ago and can pull up budgets and tell you where I spent every penny for the last 14 years. That allowed my wife and I to get out of debt, save money towards a home, pay for several adoptions, etc... Making less than 50k.

Anyhow, just my ramblings

 

[Old_Way]

I love how everyone gets their panties in a wad against all businesses and their owners... even though most people wouldn't have a job without them. They also tend to forget that the US isn't alone in the world anymore. It's possible that the US is already behind in the race towards automation and AI against other countries. If you believe all business owners are rich, and are getting that way on the backs of their workers, then I suggest all of you start a business today and give away all your 'profits' to your workers like any good SJW / socialist would. I suspect you'll find out real fast that the vast majority of business owners struggle and worry about paying their monthly bills just like everyone else. Remember that around 50% of all businesses fail within the first 4 years.

Spend some time studying the debt clock below so you'll understand that every baby born today is already saddled with $63K in US debt. I have to wonder where people think all this extra 'government' money is going to come from... It certainly isn't from the government as they officially don't have money. Printing money is a horrible solution. Ask anyone old enough to remember the Jimmy Carter presidency days how awesome 18% house loan interest rates are due to inflation.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

 

[kju1]

I agree and I agree even more on the work requirement. Some of us just need a little help, a little boost, and that's all that we need; just a little something more to help make ends meet.

And just who do you think is going to pay for this?

They also tend to forget that the US isn't alone in the world anymore.

Anymore?

 

[Old_Way]

Anymore?

Silicon valley was the birthplace of much of the worlds innovation for the last few decades. It's not anymore.
It's still a powerhouse, but it's just one of many.

 

[kju1]

Silicon valley was the birthplace of much of the worlds innovation for the last few decades. It's not anymore.
It's still a powerhouse, but it's just one of many.

The US was never "alone in the world".

 

[jcollett69]

I'd figure that $500 a month would be most useful to those who lost their job to technology. Too bad those same people would lose the $500 stipend as well since ... THEY ARE NO LONGER WORKING! How is that a solid plan?

 

[cyclone3d]

Yeah how does a consumer economy work when your consumers have no money to consume with?

It is called supply and demand.

1. Companies will not manufacture stuff that they can't sell. The will also only manufacture as much as they think they can sell
2. Stores will only stock things that they can sell as a price they can sell it at. If the items cost too much from the distributor/manufacturer for them to be able to sell and make a profit, they simply won't stock it (See 1.)

As for everybody being forced out of jobs due to technology.... well, there is going to have to be people to maintain that technology, design that technology, write the programs for that technology, manufacture that technology, etc.

And if people were not too lazy to learn new things, they can change jobs. If they lose a job somewhere, then get a job somewhere else.

Increased technology will end up creating jobs in other areas.

If you don't limit yourself to one single job and don't whine about it, you can learn to do other things.

 

[nilepez]

I love how everyone gets their panties in a wad against all businesses and their owners... even though most people wouldn't have a job without them. They also tend to forget that the US isn't alone in the world anymore. It's possible that the US is already behind in the race towards automation and AI against other countries. If you believe all business owners are rich, and are getting that way on the backs of their workers, then I suggest all of you start a business today and give away all your 'profits' to your workers like any good SJW / socialist would. I suspect you'll find out real fast that the vast majority of business owners struggle and worry about paying their monthly bills just like everyone else. Remember that around 50% of all businesses fail within the first 4 years.

Spend some time studying the debt clock below so you'll understand that every baby born today is already saddled with $63K in US debt. I have to wonder where people think all this extra 'government' money is going to come from... It certainly isn't from the government as they officially don't have money. Printing money is a horrible solution. Ask anyone old enough to remember the Jimmy Carter presidency days how awesome 18% house loan interest rates are due to inflation.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/

What does small businesses have to do with the automation of many (most?) jobs?

It's shocking that someone who is as old as you are doesn't know why we had 18% loans. For a decade (going back to Nixon) inflation had been running at over 7% (I think it peaked at 11 or 12% in various years). And it wasn't because we were printing money. If it was, interest rates would have skyrocketed during Reagan's 8 years, when we TRIPLED the national debt.

No, what happened was Paul Volker was brought in as Fed Chief and he promised to "Strangle" inflation. To do that, he raised interest rates until we went into a recession and stopped the inflation.

Carter wasn't great, but his policies didn't cause 18% inflation.

 

[seanreisk]

Don't worry, the free market will fix everything. Trickle down economics really works. Just keep believing, like Jesus but jobs instead.

OMG, don't get me started on trickle-down economics. If I ever see a politician use the term 'trickle-down economics' while actually describing authentic trickle-down economics, I will have a heart attack and die, just so I can watch hell freeze over.

It's funny, we're here talking about how to help the working poor, but what the working poor need is a living wage and protection from catastrophic economic events (i.e., they need fucking health insurance). We'd like someone to solve these problems (as long as it isn't the government, which we blame for high taxes) and we resent people who use government services to get by. But lets flip that idea on its head: The Brookings Institute did a study where they charted a 'small' business owner in a major metropolitan area. The businessman got his start in the 1990s through a sizable inheritance (about two million dollars) from his grandparents. His business is in fast food restaurants, a gas station, and some rental properties. His annual take-home pay after taxes is around 1.5 million. Amazingly, he considers himself a 'self-made man'.

His employees are mostly minimum wage, mostly adult, and he shuffles his employees through his multiple businesses so that they aren't counted as full-time workers. He does this to avoid the benefits (health care) that full-time work requires.

Many of his workers get government benefits. Total monthly government benefits for all his employees comes to about $18,000.00. Every month. That price does not include the government employees who administer those benefits, and it doesn't include the other charities that his employees use. Multiply that by 12 months, and every year it comes to $216,000.00....

We say that the poor are leeching off of us through the government. But by using simple algebra, we can mathematically show that a businessman who takes home a million and change every year but won't pay his employees a real wage is receiving an annual tax-free subsidy from the government to the tune of over $200,000.00.

The easiest way to change the formula is simple. If a poor worker qualifies for government benefits, they receive them. If the employer(s) can afford it, they are required to reimburse the government. Easy.

 

[Jagger100]

I'd love the government to subsidize my employees rather than pay a meaningful wage. I love these marxist larping CEO's who use the government to flood the labor market and subsidize their labor in the guise of altuism, but when it comes to digging in their own pockets to pay a decent wage, it's "Eff That!"

 

[seanreisk]

Ask anyone old enough to remember the Jimmy Carter presidency days how awesome 18% house loan interest rates are due to inflation.

Ooooh ho ho, you just fucked up. I DO remember, and the older I get, the more I appreciate Jimmy Carter. I'm not a democrat, but Jimmy Carter was the last proper fiscal conservative president this country has ever had. He is the last president to tell the people, "the US is in debt, and we are going to live within our means. Suck it up." I remember, because I was in the military, and during the entire Jimmy Carter presidency we couldn't get parts. About 40% of our equipment was on deadline (that means broken, for you civilians), because we couldn't even get motor oil if we didn't pay for it ourselves. Not only did he tell the Pentagon to buckle down and figure out how to live within their budget, he also forced a reworking of the methods for government contracting and procurement, which were all rewritten to stop the silly shit that was going on in the industrial military complex during Vietnam.

In 1976 America cried for an honest, practical president. And we got one, and his name was Jimmy Carter, and we HATED it. And we've never voted for an honest, practical and fiscally conservative president since.

But don't blame Jimmy Carter, that would be pure fake news.

 

[Jagger100]

Ooooh ho ho, you just fucked up. I DO remember, and the older I get, the more I appreciate Jimmy Carter. I'm not a democrat, but Jimmy Carter was the last proper fiscal conservative president this country has ever had. He is the last president to tell the people, "the US is in debt, and we are going to live within our means. Suck it up." I remember, because I was in the military, and during the entire Jimmy Carter presidency we couldn't get parts. About 40% of our equipment was on deadline (that means broken, for you civilians), because we couldn't even get motor oil if we didn't pay for it ourselves. Not only did he tell the Pentagon to buckle down and figure out how to live within their budget, he also forced a reworking of the methods for government contracting and procurement, which were all rewritten to stop the silly shit that was going on in the industrial military complex during Vietnam.

In 1976 America cried for an honest, practical president. And we got one, and his name was Jimmy Carter, and we HATED it. And we've never voted for an honest, practical and fiscally conservative president since.

But don't blame Jimmy Carter, that would be pure fake news.

No he did not. So-called 'Reagan Era' deficits ramped up to their level in Jimmy's last year. And with Tip O'Neill in the House, they weren't coming down Reagan or Not. You couldn't get military parts because the money was being spent on handouts.

It's Under Nixon, Ford and Carter we started hemorraging money in trade deficits. Letting us have high unemployment while allegedly inflation you would resolve with high interest rates should have low unemployment. Good old Triple Doubles Jimmy. Double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, double digit interest rates.

 

[Private_Ops]

Really makes me wonder if I'll see a Civil War / Revolution in this country in my life time.

I mean think about it. The Govt is OBVIOUSLY corrupt (they don't even try hiding it at this point). Gun/Ammo sells have been at an all time high for a couple years now. The Economy is progressively getting shittier with massive amounts of debt stacking up. I even wonder if a good portion of our military would obey any kinda of orders to attack our own civilians.

On the other hand we're walking into unknown waters. Yea, we can use history as an example, but that only goes so far.

 

[dandirk]

One of those lessons I learned many many years ago, is that in a way it does not matter how much money you make, but more of your discipline to budget and live within your means. For my job I am in other people's homes daily, working in close contact with their families. I have been in many "rich" homes where the people are struggling to make ends meet. (of course i am not talking about the 1% truly rich here)

People can easily spend whatever they make, and still be "poor", or better said "living paycheck-to-paycheck." Just giving someone extra money does not inherently help them. Now once again, I'm talking more in general terms. But people need to learn to make a budget, tell their money what to do. I drank the Dave Ramsey Kool-Aid 14 years ago and can pull up budgets and tell you where I spent every penny for the last 14 years. That allowed my wife and I to get out of debt, save money towards a home, pay for several adoptions, etc... Making less than 50k.

Anyhow, just my ramblings

I agree to this especially in that middle/uppermiddle class range where you have a bit more options in spending. Though we have created a society of consumption and material wealth hierarchy which fuels it. At the time it certainly helped us get through the great depression... the realestate crash did spur more saving... wonder if it stuck.

I certainly think we should have living skills classes in schools to cover this type of thing and if we are talking about monthly handouts may as well start savings accounts for kids to prove compounded interest/saving.

 

[tikiman2012]

This falls into the "No Shit" category.