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0 pointsnine_k7mo ago0 comments

> And, because it is easier to retrain humans than build machines for those jobs, we wound up with more and better jobs.

I think it did not work like that.

Automatic looms displaced large numbers of weavers, skilled professionals, which did not find immediately find jobs tending dozens of mechanical looms. (Mr Ludd was one of these displaced professionals.)

Various agricultural machines and chemical products displaced colossal numbers of country people which had to go to cities looking for industrial jobs; US agriculture used to employ 50% of workforce in 1880 and only 10% in 1930.

The advent of internet displaced many in the media industry, from high-caliber journalists to those who worked in classified ads newspapers.

All these disruptions created temporary crises, because there was no industry that was ready to immediately employ these people.

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marstall7mo ago

temporary - thats the key. people were able to move to the cities and get factory and office jobs and over time were much better off. I can complain about the socially alienated condition I'm in as an office worker, but I would NEVER want to do farm work - cold/sun, aching back, zero benefits, low pay, risk of crop failure, a whole other kind of isolation etc etc.

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