BusterAg said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

So basically 60% unemployment is around the corner

Well that's gonna look interesting

---

All those bookkeeping ladies that were doing accounting with adding machines, T-account tablets and pencils all found jobs after Excel displaced them. The same thing will happen here.

---

Except WAAAAY more professions, on a mass scale

Doctors, lawyers, IT, financial planners, accountants, teachers, professors, Uber drivers, paralegals, etc. pretty much any white collar profession and some blue collar

Not gonna need them

Don't be so naive

94chem said:

---

Today at work I'll be finding someone to help my disabled son get his e-bike repaired, calling the the county jail to ask why they are withholding my other son's medications, helping my third son plan his college trip without interfering too much with Mother's Day weekend, figuring out my daughter's financial situation in graduate school, helping my second daughter plan her wedding, helping my 3rd daughter with her on-line homework, and coordinating family moving/leasing agreements...and having a critical conversation with a supplier over a process that could make the company $50M over the next decade, working on some patents, and coordinating lab work to make a new molecule that could be worth around $20M. This is my normal work day. This is what the top of the ladder looks like.

---

You are "at the top of the ladder" and your kid is in jail?

that's rough.

Welp, guess it won't work quite yet. That's why I asked!

LMCane said:

---

94chem said:

---

Today at work I'll be finding someone to help my disabled son get his e-bike repaired, calling the the county jail to ask why they are withholding my other son's medications, helping my third son plan his college trip without interfering too much with Mother's Day weekend, figuring out my daughter's financial situation in graduate school, helping my second daughter plan her wedding, helping my 3rd daughter with her on-line homework, and coordinating family moving/leasing agreements...and having a critical conversation with a supplier over a process that could make the company $50M over the next decade, working on some patents, and coordinating lab work to make a new molecule that could be worth around $20M. This is my normal work day. This is what the top of the ladder looks like.

---

You are "at the top of the ladder" and your kid is in jail?

that's rough.

---

Don't judge, brother. Like Meatloaf said, "don't be sad, 'cause 5 out of 6 ain't bad."

Teslag said:

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infinity ag said:

---

YouBet said:

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Captain Pablo said:

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Oh, I think it will be more than just those with work ethic, and intrinsic purpose.

I think the whole notion that everybody's gonna be fine because money no longer be needed, everything is dirt cheap, is a ridiculous pipe dream

Wouldn't you still need money to pay your existing 30 year note? What are they just gonna cancel all debt?

Yeah it's one of the dumbest ideas ever floated

5000 years of competitive commerce, poof, gone, no longer needed, everybody lives in utopian bliss

You'd have to be an absolute idiot to believe that

---

According to Elon, he said it's pointless to even save for retirement. Money will be that irrelevant. It won't exist.

For someone as smart as he is, he's simultaneously a dumbass writing off human behavior like he is.

---

Yes he is a dumbass. I believe he has one or two talents that is world class and he used it to be No 1 richest. He sucks on everything else.

Which is why we mustn't idolize people just because they got successful at business/money.

---

I'd love to stack your IQ next to his

---

I would guess the gap is close to 50 points.

one safe place said:

---

Teslag said:

---

infinity ag said:

---

YouBet said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

Oh, I think it will be more than just those with work ethic, and intrinsic purpose.

I think the whole notion that everybody's gonna be fine because money no longer be needed, everything is dirt cheap, is a ridiculous pipe dream

Wouldn't you still need money to pay your existing 30 year note? What are they just gonna cancel all debt?

Yeah it's one of the dumbest ideas ever floated

5000 years of competitive commerce, poof, gone, no longer needed, everybody lives in utopian bliss

You'd have to be an absolute idiot to believe that

---

According to Elon, he said it's pointless to even save for retirement. Money will be that irrelevant. It won't exist.

For someone as smart as he is, he's simultaneously a dumbass writing off human behavior like he is.

---

Yes he is a dumbass. I believe he has one or two talents that is world class and he used it to be No 1 richest. He sucks on everything else.

Which is why we mustn't idolize people just because they got successful at business/money.

---

I'd love to stack your IQ next to his

---

I would guess the gap is close to 50 points.

---

Oh cmon now...Elon's IQ is certainly higher than 60

Captain Pablo said:

---

BusterAg said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

So basically 60% unemployment is around the corner

Well that's gonna look interesting

---

All those bookkeeping ladies that were doing accounting with adding machines, T-account tablets and pencils all found jobs after Excel displaced them. The same thing will happen here.

---

Except WAAAAY more professions, on a mass scale

Doctors, lawyers, IT, financial planners, accountants, teachers, professors, Uber drivers, paralegals, etc. pretty much any white collar profession and some blue collar

Not gonna need them

Don't be so naive

---

We are going to need some people in almost all of those fields. For almost any of these, a human being armed with AI is going to be better than the AI alone.

Just fewer data entry and loafers.

one safe place said:

---

Teslag said:

---

infinity ag said:

---

YouBet said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

Oh, I think it will be more than just those with work ethic, and intrinsic purpose.

I think the whole notion that everybody's gonna be fine because money no longer be needed, everything is dirt cheap, is a ridiculous pipe dream

Wouldn't you still need money to pay your existing 30 year note? What are they just gonna cancel all debt?

Yeah it's one of the dumbest ideas ever floated

5000 years of competitive commerce, poof, gone, no longer needed, everybody lives in utopian bliss

You'd have to be an absolute idiot to believe that

---

According to Elon, he said it's pointless to even save for retirement. Money will be that irrelevant. It won't exist.

For someone as smart as he is, he's simultaneously a dumbass writing off human behavior like he is.

---

Yes he is a dumbass. I believe he has one or two talents that is world class and he used it to be No 1 richest. He sucks on everything else.

Which is why we mustn't idolize people just because they got successful at business/money.

---

I'd love to stack your IQ next to his

---

I would guess the gap is close to 50 points.

---

Your guess is as good as mine.

BusterAg said:

---

infinity ag said:

---

YouBet said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

Oh, I think it will be more than just those with work ethic, and intrinsic purpose.

I think the whole notion that everybody's gonna be fine because money no longer be needed, everything is dirt cheap, is a ridiculous pipe dream

Wouldn't you still need money to pay your existing 30 year note? What are they just gonna cancel all debt?

Yeah it's one of the dumbest ideas ever floated

5000 years of competitive commerce, poof, gone, no longer needed, everybody lives in utopian bliss

You'd have to be an absolute idiot to believe that

---

According to Elon, he said it's pointless to even save for retirement. Money will be that irrelevant. It won't exist.

For someone as smart as he is, he's simultaneously a dumbass writing off human behavior like he is.

---

Yes he is a dumbass. I believe he has one or two talents that is world class and he used it to be No 1 richest. He sucks on everything else.

Which is why we mustn't idolize people just because they got successful at business/money.

---

Elon has a world class memory, and incredibly talented analytical mind that makes him a genius but also leads to his borderline personality disorder, will work every person he comes in contact with under the table, and is not afraid at all of running over people that are in his way.

It's a pretty impressive skill set.

---

I think you are right.
He is world class in a few areas (business/money) but failure in other areas like holding on to a woman, having a united family etc. His kids hate him, nuff said... what good is his Trillion dollars when he will die alone?

I could do with a little bit more money but I don't want his mega billions which come with its own set of headaches.

BusterAg said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

So basically 60% unemployment is around the corner

Well that's gonna look interesting

---

All those bookkeeping ladies that were doing accounting with adding machines, T-account tablets and pencils all found jobs after Excel displaced them. The same thing will happen here.

---

Those, and in my lifetime, doctors quit making house calls, tv repairment with those cool wooden boxes full of tubes are gone, milkman doesn't deliver, telephone operators you told the number you wanted to connect to don't exist, encyclopedia salespeople, door-to-door salespeople of everything from household items to insurance, makers of TV antennas that go outside your house, typewriters and typewriter repairmen, the Rolodex, rotary/landline phones, phone books, answering machines, fax machines, vcr players, road maps, handheld calculators, and many other things. Don't have (or need) anyone to make them, to sell them, or to service/repair them. They all found something else to do.

one safe place said:

---

BusterAg said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

So basically 60% unemployment is around the corner

Well that's gonna look interesting

---

All those bookkeeping ladies that were doing accounting with adding machines, T-account tablets and pencils all found jobs after Excel displaced them. The same thing will happen here.

---

Those, and in my lifetime, doctors quit making house calls, tv repairment with those cool wooden boxes full of tubes are gone, milkman doesn't deliver, telephone operators you told the number you wanted to connect to don't exist, encyclopedia salespeople, door-to-door salespeople of everything from household items to insurance, makers of TV antennas that go outside your house, typewriters and typewriter repairmen, the Rolodex, rotary/landline phones, phone books, answering machines, fax machines, vcr players, road maps, handheld calculators, and many other things. Don't have (or need) anyone to make them, to sell them, or to service/repair them. They all found something else to do.

---

Do you know where I can buy a good buggy whip?

I worked for UCS in the late 90s for a brief period of time as a software support analyst. I never did go to the Houston campus, but I didn't the think College Station facility was that bad. In fact, when I started with UCS, we were still in a strip mall in Bryan. One thing I do remember is the Death Star--if you looked up your personnel file on one of their dummy terminals and saw an asterisk (*) next to your name, that was an indicator your account was set for termination. I didn't know any different in those days about what a good job was or wasn't, to be honest.

94chem said:

---

Today at work I'll be finding someone to help my disabled son get his e-bike repaired, calling the the county jail to ask why they are withholding my other son's medications, helping my third son plan his college trip without interfering too much with Mother's Day weekend, figuring out my daughter's financial situation in graduate school, helping my second daughter plan her wedding, helping my 3rd daughter with her on-line homework, and coordinating family moving/leasing agreements...and having a critical conversation with a supplier over a process that could make the company $50M over the next decade, working on some patents, and coordinating lab work to make a new molecule that could be worth around $20M. This is my normal work day. This is what the top of the ladder looks like.

---

I'll be planning my 10-day Maui vacation today.

Good luck.

Captain Pablo said:

---

BusterAg said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

So basically 60% unemployment is around the corner

Well that's gonna look interesting

---

All those bookkeeping ladies that were doing accounting with adding machines, T-account tablets and pencils all found jobs after Excel displaced them. The same thing will happen here.

---

Except WAAAAY more professions, on a mass scale

Doctors, lawyers, IT, financial planners, accountants, teachers, professors, Uber drivers, paralegals, etc. pretty much any white collar profession and some blue collar

Not gonna need them

Don't be so naive

---

Wife and I went to get wills redone this afternoon. Law office used to have 3 attorneys now has 1. Used to have full-time assistant now has part-time.

My lawyer he has more business and more billable hours. All due to AI doing a huge amount of the grunt work.

AI will make a lot of folks much more effective. He loves AI. But has his own office. Big difference from working at Meta and the companies it is courting.

The only thing that will constrain this AI train is cost, electrical capacity, and hardware to run it on. We've been told to back off on using it as much temporarily because of cost.

I think people will start buying their own subs and using it as a shadow to do their work despite company policy.

Zuckerberg is a dork and I don't think he is as smart as believed. Did he 1 in a million FB? Sure...ok....

Logos Stick said:

---

The only thing that will constrain this AI train is cost, electrical capacity, and hardware to run it on. We've been told to back off on using it as much temporarily because of cost.

I think people will start buying their own subs and using it as a shadow to do their work despite company policy.

---

Tricky - the IP almost always belongs to the company for anything done in the scope of your employment. Definitely a cause for termination. Probably prosecution.

Meta 'tracking employees' keystrokes' to help train AI systems
https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/meta-ai-systems-andrew-bosworth-b2962949.html

Quote:

---

A Meta spokesperson confirmed the data would only be used for model training and not for performance assessments, with safeguards in place for sensitive content.

---

Ahhh. gotcha. We are all good then! Whew. I was worried for a moment.

Dude, I forgot about the phone call printouts from the 1990s.

When I worked for the State in Austin, my manager got a detailed call record that we reviewed every month.

When I worked at Dell a couple years later, we had the same thing and mine included international calls to my counterparts in Brazil.

Difference was that my manager at Dell didn't give a damn about my phone calls. All he wanted was results.

There will be companies that try the route of replacing employees and managers with AI. Then, the AI companies will raise the cost...which will lead to divesting from AI and returning some level of employees. It will be a cycle, IMO.

UCS. I worked there one summer. That place was a sweat shop.

BusterAg said:

---

The way to have a successful company is to have employees that provide discretionary effort without prompting via a stick because they believe in what they are doing, they believe in the vision of the company, and they believe that the job that they are currently working is helping to prepare them to be successful in their next job.

AI watching over every move of your employees will get rid of the bad employees, but how are you going to retain top talent? People are too complex for there to be one person at the top of the pyramid managing a large group of human beings, who have emotions, desired, dream and fears. If you are using sticks to whittle things down to the top talent, you are absolutely going to have to pay them every dollar of value that they bring to your company, or they will leave. Concentrating responsibility into just the top talent will make turnover even more painful, and, at the end of the day, you are going to be paying the same amount in total compensation as you were before, just to fewer people.

I am so not worried about AI replacing everyone's jobs. The people that should be worried the most about AI are the largest companies, who are going to start to see their moats built by economies of scale start to dry up, and loafers with no ambition who collect a paycheck but provide very little value because they spend all their time posting on Instagram and TexAgs.

---

You could have just said "the world needs ditch diggers too".

Gigem314 said:

---

Over_ed said:

---

In the first article, Zuckerberg will be capturing every employees' keystroke and mouse movement. One stated objective: perform employee evaluations. Certainly replacing the employees with AI is much higher in priority.

Next (second article) Zuck is creating an AI version of himself to place on all employees' computers. Because what could possibly be better than having the surrogate CEO personally give guidance and direction throughout the day?

---

---

Couldn't you just use AI to defeat this?

one safe place said:

---

BusterAg said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

So basically 60% unemployment is around the corner

Well that's gonna look interesting

---

All those bookkeeping ladies that were doing accounting with adding machines, T-account tablets and pencils all found jobs after Excel displaced them. The same thing will happen here.

---

Those, and in my lifetime, doctors quit making house calls, tv repairment with those cool wooden boxes full of tubes are gone, milkman doesn't deliver, telephone operators you told the number you wanted to connect to don't exist, encyclopedia salespeople, door-to-door salespeople of everything from household items to insurance, makers of TV antennas that go outside your house, typewriters and typewriter repairmen, the Rolodex, rotary/landline phones, phone books, answering machines, fax machines, vcr players, road maps, handheld calculators, and many other things. Don't have (or need) anyone to make them, to sell them, or to service/repair them. They all found something else to do.

---

But "in my lifetime" is different than (potentially) "over a period of 3-5 years". Also, I am doubtful that there were *that* many traveling salesmen in the first place...regardless, a quick google shows roughly half of the workforce is employed in some kind of white collar job. If that is even remotely accurate, we're simply talking about a different order of magnitude with AI. Those workers who utilize AI will be more productive and might earn a little more, but the supply and demand balance for various types of jobs could get out of whack rapidly. We only need so many plumbers and electricians.

As for the comments on UBI, some people here seem to weirdly believe that the presence of UBI precludes someone from doing other work/earning other income. I've never heard anyone talk about it in that way, and it makes no sense to me. Of course there will be people still motivated to earn more, support their family, innovate, etc.

12thAngryMan said:

---

one safe place said:

---

BusterAg said:

---

Captain Pablo said:

---

So basically 60% unemployment is around the corner

Well that's gonna look interesting

---

All those bookkeeping ladies that were doing accounting with adding machines, T-account tablets and pencils all found jobs after Excel displaced them. The same thing will happen here.

---

Those, and in my lifetime, doctors quit making house calls, tv repairment with those cool wooden boxes full of tubes are gone, milkman doesn't deliver, telephone operators you told the number you wanted to connect to don't exist, encyclopedia salespeople, door-to-door salespeople of everything from household items to insurance, makers of TV antennas that go outside your house, typewriters and typewriter repairmen, the Rolodex, rotary/landline phones, phone books, answering machines, fax machines, vcr players, road maps, handheld calculators, and many other things. Don't have (or need) anyone to make them, to sell them, or to service/repair them. They all found something else to do.

---

But "in my lifetime" is different than (potentially) "over a period of 3-5 years". Also, I am doubtful that there were *that* many traveling salesmen in the first place...regardless, a quick google shows roughly half of the workforce is employed in some kind of white collar job. If that is even remotely accurate, we're simply talking about a different order of magnitude with AI.

As for the comments on UBI, some people here seem to weirdly believe that the presence of UBI precludes someone from doing other work/earning other income. I've never heard anyone talk about it in that way, and it makes no sense to me. Of course there will be people still motivated to earn more, support their family, innovate, etc.

---

Key phrase is "if this is remotely accurate". Honestly I don't think it is. We're in the "there's tons of money here" phase.

AI is great at speeding up the people that are learning how to use it. I've not seen much that tells me it can replace large swaths of the workforce. It's an emerging technology and we're going to see headcount in some areas shrink. We aren't going to see whole industries die. Who is most vulnerable? Those that don't figure out how to use it. The amount of time I save using it is incredible. It's great at analyzing data and telling you what it says. You know what it's not great at? Making decisions based on that analysis plus the million other factors that drive decisions day to day. Nor is it great at helping owners understand the decisions in front of them. That's still a very human thing.

YouBet said:

---

That first article is 1984. Glad I'm retired.

Related to thread topic, Deloitte just announced they are cutting pensions (understandable), PTO (wow), and parental benefits (wow) for their employees while at the same time announcing the largest corporate real estate deal in America, since COVID, by leasing 800k sq ft in a new ultra high end spot in Manhattan for their new US HQ.

If that doesn't tell you it's an employers market, then I don't know what does.

---

Also, THIS is why Rs are going to get thrashed in the midterms.
An employers market with a lot of unhappy employees.
Big companies are laying off thousands, because there is scope for tremendous efficiency with AI
Small employers are better/safer, but that almost always means a lot more work with fewer benefits, and much lower pay.

doubledog said:

---

This big brother micro management always comes back to bite you in the butt.
The more you are monitored the more you regret your life decisions, the more you are seek a different path.

---

LOYAL AG said:

---

12thAngryMan said:

---

But "in my lifetime" is different than (potentially) "over a period of 3-5 years". Also, I am doubtful that there were *that* many traveling salesmen in the first place...regardless, a quick google shows roughly half of the workforce is employed in some kind of white collar job. If that is even remotely accurate, we're simply talking about a different order of magnitude with AI.

As for the comments on UBI, some people here seem to weirdly believe that the presence of UBI precludes someone from doing other work/earning other income. I've never heard anyone talk about it in that way, and it makes no sense to me. Of course there will be people still motivated to earn more, support their family, innovate, etc.

---

Key phrase is "if this is remotely accurate". Honestly I don't think it is. We're in the "there's tons of money here" phase.

AI is great at speeding up the people that are learning how to use it. I've not seen much that tells me it can replace large swaths of the workforce. It's an emerging technology and we're going to see headcount in some areas shrink. We aren't going to see whole industries die. Who is most vulnerable? Those that don't figure out how to use it. The amount of time I save using it is incredible. It's great at analyzing data and telling you what it says. You know what it's not great at? Making decisions based on that analysis plus the million other factors that drive decisions day to day. Nor is it great at helping owners understand the decisions in front of them. That's still a very human thing.

---

I agree it won't replace entire industries, but as your example indicates, it might replace a significant percentages of the people employed in a large number of industries. If your company and every other company suddenly can get by with half the number of accountants, half the lawyers, half the marketers, etc etc., where are those people going to end up? Not saying I definitely know the answer, but I do think this is a unique situation in terms of scale and rapidity of potential changes.

Welcome to your future!

JUST IN: Meta announces it's laying off 10% of its workforce, as the company plans on AI writing 4x the amount of code as its human engineers this year.

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 23, 2026

more future coming your way...

*MICROSOFT TO OFFER VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT TO 7% OF US WORKFORCE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 23, 2026

Logos Stick said:

---

more future coming your way...

*MICROSOFT TO OFFER VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT TO 7% OF US WORKFORCE

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 23, 2026

---

But those offers are only to US workers amiriiiiiiiite?

But MSFT will file for 10000000000000000 H1Bs amiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite?

deddog said:

---

YouBet said:

---

That first article is 1984. Glad I'm retired.

Related to thread topic, Deloitte just announced they are cutting pensions (understandable), PTO (wow), and parental benefits (wow) for their employees while at the same time announcing the largest corporate real estate deal in America, since COVID, by leasing 800k sq ft in a new ultra high end spot in Manhattan for their new US HQ.

If that doesn't tell you it's an employers market, then I don't know what does.

---

Also, THIS is why Rs are going to get thrashed in the midterms.
An employers market with a lot of unhappy employees.
Big companies are laying off thousands, because there is scope for tremendous efficiency with AI
Small employers are better/safer, but that almost always means a lot more work with fewer benefits, and much lower pay.

---

You are right.

There are some morons even on this group who get riled up when I say the job market stinks. They keep insisting it is great and the US Governments say so. They don't realize that the Govt gives us numbers for Boomer-approved jobs like HVAC, Plumber and Electrician. All the high paying white collar jobs are sold to India and other countries.


Even I wouldn't vote for Trump today. And I voted for him all 3 times. If Obama and others can with a flick of a men give H4 visas, why can't Trump undo it? Why can't he remove OPT? There is a lot he could do but isn't. I don't really care about Iran, I care about jobs for our kids. No, I didn't send them to college in good majors to become plumbers.

I think Zuckerberg wants to peer into everyone's bedrooms.

More like Ceiling Case at work.