alt.hn

5/16/2026 at 11:45:08 AM

Prepare for an AI Jobs Apocalypse

 https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/05/14/prepare-for-an-ai-jobs-apocalypse

by wiseowise

5/16/2026 at 5:24:21 PM

I'm convinced the real threat is a good quality robot arm that costs $2,000 and is trainable in one single day by a regular person with an app on their phone.

I think that will drive down labor costs and make millions of people unemployed.

by kilroy123

5/17/2026 at 2:15:43 PM

Interesting idea, but I'm not so sure. Let's look at coffee shops for example. First the shop has to be designed around the robot arm. The coffee won't be churned out much faster, most of the time baristas are waiting for the coffee machine to do its thing. And you still need people to deal with the myriad of human issues you see in such a location.

by mmarian

5/17/2026 at 12:19:53 PM

How?

by Gud

5/16/2026 at 2:11:27 PM

If your idea of a job is to sit pretty in meetings, agree on increasing synergies, then go write an email or fill out a form or something, yeah they will be gone.

Anything that requires you to think in constraints, orchestration and optimization should survive in one form or another. It always does.

by moezd

5/16/2026 at 10:49:28 PM

Both those options sound horrible.

Personally I prefer to just get stuff done at work. Not to waste time on meetings and synergy but no orchestration either.

by wolvoleo

5/16/2026 at 3:41:00 PM

As long as there is high demand for it. AI will reduce that current demand.

by perarneng

5/16/2026 at 7:12:12 PM

That’s a bet and remains to be seen.

by awill88

5/16/2026 at 9:32:53 PM

AI automation will shift the labor demand curve. Once jobs that were previously done by humans are done by AI, this directly reduces human labor demand.

by stevenhuang

5/17/2026 at 2:21:01 AM

That's also a bet and also remains to be seen

by graceful6800

5/17/2026 at 3:27:49 AM

Labor substitution is math, not a bet.

by stevenhuang

5/17/2026 at 2:22:41 AM

[dead]

by ath3nd

5/16/2026 at 3:15:28 PM

> Prominent economists around the world have proposed higher taxes on capital and lower ones on labour.

This so much.

In Italy I pay:

- 12.5 % of interest on government bonds

- 26 % of interest on stocks capital gains

- 21 % of taxes on the income I get by renting my real estate

- 37 %+ of taxes on my labor

- up to 57 % of taxes as a self-employed business

If this isn't rigged against productive working and beneficial for passive owning I don't know what is.

Of course numbers change across the world, but I have yet to see that many countries were this is inverted.

I'm well off financially and eventually, I'm less and less dependent on my work to live, but if this isn't a scam towards the general working population, then I don't know what is.

by epolanski

5/17/2026 at 5:10:53 AM

Someone has to pay for the past.

"Italy recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 137.10 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2025."

https://tradingeconomics.com/italy/government-debt-to-gdp

by leonidasrup

5/17/2026 at 9:14:46 AM

And why does it have to be labor?

And why does this happen in virtually all of the world, including countries with low debt?

by epolanski

5/17/2026 at 6:13:08 PM

Don't forget, bilionares have succesfully exploited weakneses of the current tax laws.

1. Capital Gains Are Favored

2. Dividends Are Tax-Advantaged

3. Payroll Taxes Are a Non-Issue

4. “Buy, Borrow, Die” Strategy

https://www.americans.com/money/see-why-warren-buffett-pays-...

by leonidasrup

5/16/2026 at 1:53:26 PM

adding it to my list of apocalypses to prepare for

by soupspaces