#robots stealing your jerbs

[biglisbonnews]

Rabbi gives a sermon written by AI Via Jerusalem Post: New York Senior Rabbi Josh Franklin, of the Jewish Center of the Hamptons, surprised his congregation earlier this week by delivering a sermon written entirely by Artificial Intelligence (AI.) The rabbi used the ChatGPT chatbot, a free-to-access AI program launched in November of last year. — Read the rest https://boingboing.net/2023/01/30/rabbi-gives-a-sermon-written-by-ai.html

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Robots aren't stealing your job

You've probably heard a lot about how robutts are coming to steal your jerb, but even a cursory look at both employment stats and the state of automation tell a very different tale.

A pair of essays from Sareeta Amrute, Alex Rosenblat, and Brian Callaci from Data & Society take a deep dive into the reality of precarious employment and its relationship to automation.

In "Why Are Good Jobs Disappearing if Robots Aren’t Taking Them?" the authors blame the disappearance of good jobs not on automation, but on the ability of apps to circumvent employment law (the gig economy).

https://points.datasociety.net/why-are-good-jobs-disappearing-if-robots-arent-taking-them-9f8d4845302a

Tech also simplifies the process of outsourcing to low-waged, poor workers overseas, and surveillance and real-time predictive tools allow employers to shift the costs of slow business times onto their workers.

We hear a lot about how economic downturns prompt investment in automation, but the authors don't find that. Rather, "firms restructure in response to downturns in ways that create fewer permanent job opportunities than in the past."

Crises allow for permanent changes in employment norms: " What is at risk now, is that the management techniques of gig companies will become protected by U.S. law and embedded in the national economy."

There are few robots on the horizon in the US workplace: "The rate of productivity growth has been slowing, not accelerating, in recent years...At the same time, investments in capital equipment, information processing equipment, and software have been slowing since 2000."

On to part two: "The Robots are Just Automated Management Tools": the hallmarks of the modern workplace are "Surveil, Schedule, Speed Up" and all three are supercharged by tech.

https://points.datasociety.net/the-robots-are-just-automated-management-tools-b9bf28c4434

Consider how workplaces use scheduling software to dynamically and unpredictably assign shifts in 15-minute increments, while equipping workers with trackers that monitor their every move and software accelerates the pace of work.

It's cost-shifting, from employers to workers: workers have to be on-call 24/7 but are guaranteed no work;  the breathing time a stock-picker in a warehouse gets before picking up an item is squeezed out by a light beam that skewers the item as soon as they are in position.

But the authors hold out hope for worker power, as the realization that "essential workers" are the lowest-paid, worst-treated among us gives workers a newfound sense of their power and the public a newfound respect for their work.

"In short, the robots are coming, but slowly, and not in the ways they are often portrayed. What’s actually happening is that precarious work is becoming more visible, while management software hides the changing the nature of working conditions."

[sinesalvatorem]

what are some anti-libertarian arguments you see that make you want to tear your hair out because they could have been solved by a decent econ course?

Warning: Extremely uncharitable. All of the following are weakman arguments. Most of them have stronger forms (though, even then, they continue to be incredibly wrong). This is me venting.

(I’ve been told I’m too agreeable and insufficiently willing to piss people off so, uh, I guess this is me fixing that :p)

If we just turn resource allocation over to a computer, the economy will run much better!

Competition between firms is just waste.

High tariffs make us richer.

In order to have free trade, you have to have many-thousand-page-long free trade agreements.

If you don’t negotiate your trade agreements hard enough and use a lot of BRUTE STRENGTH, the other countries might win!

Now that the UK is leaving the EU they have to have high tariffs and protectionism! There are literally no other options! Woe are we, with our tied hands!

“The (European) single market is neither a free trade area nor is it a customs union - it is a fundamentally more advanced and open economic area than anything else in the world.” - Malcolm Harbour, UK. *vomits*

Other countries under-pricing and subsidising the goods they export to us is even capable of hurting us (much less being a major threat).

Them immigrants are gonna steal mah jerbs.

Them robots are gonna steal mah jerbs.

(Just like they put all the textile workers out of business!)

Unemployment could ever reach >90% for reasons other than political tampering (probably because of jerb-thiefing robots).

I know the lump of labour fallacy has been a fallacy literally all of the other times, but this time the robots are reeeeeally gonna steal all the jobs, you have to beliiiiiieve me!

Markets only produce luxury goods.

Companies can’t make money selling to poor people.

(Because the highest-revenue company in the world doesn’t exist.)

We produce enough food to feed everyone in the world (true!) but the only reason we don’t give it to everyone is because of Greedy Corporations (no).

(This argument’s cousin - “We have enough fresh water for everyone in the world but the only reason we don’t pipe it into the fucking desert is because of ~greed~” - is, fortunately, far more rare. This is because, by the time you’ve said those words, you usually realise what a fucking idiot you sound like.)

The government should forgive all currently existing student debt and then keep issuing more of it. (*internal screaming*)

Education is a public good.

Spreading my random philosophy is a public good.

To prevent negative externalities, the government should ban [random thing that offends me].

We need to set a maximum price on [insert important good that we can’t afford shortages of] to increase access to it (HOW).

Economic growth is going to stop when we run out of natural resources.

“Running out of natural resources” is a meaningful concept in any way.

Anything to do with taxi medallions that isn’t “Kill with fire and then salt the body”.

The only thing that can solve this housing crisis is more vigorous urban planning… (*cocks gun*) …So we need to put a ban on the construction of new luxury housing… (*places barrel to my head*) …Because the construction of new housing is the driving force behind rent increases. (*pulls the fucking trigger*)

[biglisbonnews]

Netflix used AI to replace workers, announces new anti-password sharing plan Netflix Japan recently released a short anime film called Dog & The Boy. What sets this short apart. The content of this mini-movie matters less than the context — as the company boasted in a tweet, the film was created was AI-generated backgrounds, a choice that they claim was specifically made to address a "labor shortage." — Read the rest https://boingboing.net/2023/02/03/netflix-used-ai-to-replace-workers-announces-new-anti-password-sharing-plan.html