Many times before. But they are all disguised with different words. Clearly, there is a shared anxiety about the side-effects of human progress that can’t be explained away with intellectual reasoning.
Some examples…Why do people insist that the market will produce new jobs? http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10580495&postcount=124
The problem I see with increasing the necessary skill level of jobs is that, like it or not, some folks just plain aren’t suited for high skill jobs. The local Wendy’s employs a kid with Down’s Syndrome to keep the dining room clean. He does a great job and does not seem to be bored with the simple work. When, not if, Wendy’s deploys a robot to handle the job of keeping the dining room clean, what work will he be suited for? Presumably he’s getting at least minimum wage, unless there is some program that allows Wendy’s to employ him at a lower one.
What’s so bad about a “service economy” http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10529137&postcount=26
What does 21st century America do with the large number of people with IQ’s in the 80 to 95 range in this new service economy where manufacturing has been sent overseas to insure them a stable and middle class life?
In my family, there are several older men who were not at all bright people. They never finished high school, dropped out, went into World War II as soldiers and served honorably. When they got out, they were not college material and they knew it. They got jobs in factories - and I am going to use a dirty word here but please forgive me - union jobs - at worked at them for the rest of their working lives.
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Please explain to me what happens to these people in your new Brave New World service USA.
What to do with stupid people?
Seriously, what role do you enivision folks in the lower 50, 33, or 25% of “capability” playing in today’s and tomorrow’s society? What should our educational, economic, and social systems do to assist the least-able members of our society do what? ...
Seriously, what role do you enivision folks in the lower 50, 33, or 25% of “capability” playing in today’s and tomorrow’s society? What should our educational, economic, and social systems do to assist the least-able members of our society do what?