What Amazon Teaches Us About AI and the “Jobless Future”
This post neglects a lot of externalities. Before, a single kettle could last generations. I&#x27;m personally very disturbed by the idea of more and more people getting many deliveries every single day. That kind of consumption  is insanity and just think of the carbon footprint.<p>They mention clothing too. Clothing is an incredibly harmful industry for the environment and don&#x27;t forget how it affects workers - be they seamstresses in unsafe factories in Bangladesh or inmates in cotton fields in Louisiana. I don&#x27;t know​ why we should be happy how many clothes we can all wear now.<p>The big problem with automation is the trend of who really benefits most. The point is made in the article that the consumer will experience massive benefits. And this is true if you are a first world professional, like people working in silicon valley. But how much of the new employment in Amazon is in fulfilment centres? Those don&#x27;t sound like the kinds of jobs we should be happy that automation is creating and they are hardly going to last long either.<p>I&#x27;d love if all vehicles became smart electronic driverless miracle machines and getting blood to dying mothers sounds great. I just can&#x27;t support these shifts if there isn&#x27;t also a big change in the class structure of the society that these changes are happening in. The wealth this creates should be less concentrated and the benefits and TRUE costs (incl. Environmental) shared more equally.