“Just a side note, I worked my way through college as a cook/chef. It is not a “lesser” field, it is just one that we as a society do not value enough to pay for.”
This applies to so many other essential, low-status jobs as well. If there turns out to be any value to AI at all, perhaps it will serve to point out how vital it is that certain things cannot be done by virtual, digital technology.
Still, we note the truth of your point that there remains a strong push not to pay these people for their vital work.
There is this, though: a general strike on the part of janitors, garbage collectors, cooks, street sweepers, gas-station clerks, packing plant workers and the like would not need to go on very long to gum things up.
(BtW, like you, I worked in kitchens throughout my college years, starting by bussing tables and working my way up to prep and fry cook.)
What really torques me is the "conservatives" who say that they believe in the 'dignity' of work, and how that is part of what makes us human and a society, then they double down on denying the a living wage. Someone who makes your burgers, sweeps your floors, or cares for your ailing parents isn't worth more than the pathetic federal minimum wage is a terrible look for Republicans.
I’m glad I’m retired, and my kids are in professions that AI can’t easily replace. I will say that as a legal researcher for 30+ years I had to scrape my chin off the floor at the stories I’ve read of attorneys who were too lazy to actually do their job and relied on ChatGPT for case law for their briefs. Turns out that many of the cases they cited didn’t actually exist. These idiots obviously didn’t bother to actually try to read those cases, which would have alerted them or have their briefs cite-checked.
But it does make for some fun reading the news about it.
But make no mistake the Lexis-Nexis universe is certainly building a closed legal chat bot that will not make those mistakes, and that will play hell on the early in career lawyers who do a ton of research for the big names (aka partners).
Soon firms will stop hiring fresh grads (the meat in the grinder) to keep the pipeline filled. And that will mean that in 20 years, there will be no "next generation" of skilled talent
About a decade ago, I was at a company that was being sued by a patent troll, and I got to experience discovery. Holy shit, they have tools that will scour your laptop HD almost instantly and find a lot of things that you forgot you had worked on.
AI is going to make that even more like a firehose enema.
(I had to sit a 30(b)6 deposition for this case, and that really truly sucked)
Patent troll cases are awful, worked on several. Yeah, that’s true about discovery, probably more so now than when I was working. Being a non-party deponent is never fun.
I've tried to close my ears to the oncoming AI assault. I'm older than you and clearly, employers would like to rid themselves of people like me. I dont WANT to go gently into that good night, but I may have to. Losing that one client...likely to AI, but also to the ego of the owners son (half my age) who wants to do it.... is forcing me to make some difficult decisions. I think people want to feel valuable, like they are contributing in some way. AI is going to rob people of that. And employers are creating a situation where no one will be able to buy their shit because AI took their jobs. We're losing our humanity. I'm getting depressed. :(
I share all your concerns. I harken back to H. Ross Perot and his giant sounds of NAFTA sucking the manufacturing jobs out of the US. Now it is the supposedly safe professions.
When I started at my current gig in 2016, I did a bunch of research into the "Future of Work", and there is a large body of scholarly effort in the late 1990's and early 2000's that mentioned that the professional class was likely o be safe, but one bastion of the entry into the middle class, Long Haul Truck Driving, would be gone in the early 2010's due to automation.
In an ironic turn, I think the truck drivers are safe (but that has become a very poor path into the middle class, as the consolidation of the major carriers has wiped out the pay structure, in a race to the bottom), and the professional "educated" class will be on the white knuckled ride.
I am so glad I am not 19 years old staring at what my future looks like. Because, they are fucked.
They are fucked indeed. I feel intensely grateful that I have my farm as a cushion. My grandmother made that possible for me...and I'll never forget it. Having some feeling of financial stability, though, doesnt fill the need to feel useful, a contributor, valuable. I'm going to have some serious windshield time starting tomorrow to take myself down off the ledge. 🤦♀️
“Just a side note, I worked my way through college as a cook/chef. It is not a “lesser” field, it is just one that we as a society do not value enough to pay for.”
This applies to so many other essential, low-status jobs as well. If there turns out to be any value to AI at all, perhaps it will serve to point out how vital it is that certain things cannot be done by virtual, digital technology.
Still, we note the truth of your point that there remains a strong push not to pay these people for their vital work.
There is this, though: a general strike on the part of janitors, garbage collectors, cooks, street sweepers, gas-station clerks, packing plant workers and the like would not need to go on very long to gum things up.
(BtW, like you, I worked in kitchens throughout my college years, starting by bussing tables and working my way up to prep and fry cook.)
Preach brother!
What really torques me is the "conservatives" who say that they believe in the 'dignity' of work, and how that is part of what makes us human and a society, then they double down on denying the a living wage. Someone who makes your burgers, sweeps your floors, or cares for your ailing parents isn't worth more than the pathetic federal minimum wage is a terrible look for Republicans.
I’m glad I’m retired, and my kids are in professions that AI can’t easily replace. I will say that as a legal researcher for 30+ years I had to scrape my chin off the floor at the stories I’ve read of attorneys who were too lazy to actually do their job and relied on ChatGPT for case law for their briefs. Turns out that many of the cases they cited didn’t actually exist. These idiots obviously didn’t bother to actually try to read those cases, which would have alerted them or have their briefs cite-checked.
I heard about that...JFC! That defies all logic! 😂😂😂 DUMB ASSES!
But it does make for some fun reading the news about it.
But make no mistake the Lexis-Nexis universe is certainly building a closed legal chat bot that will not make those mistakes, and that will play hell on the early in career lawyers who do a ton of research for the big names (aka partners).
Soon firms will stop hiring fresh grads (the meat in the grinder) to keep the pipeline filled. And that will mean that in 20 years, there will be no "next generation" of skilled talent
They’ve had “natural language” searching for years and it really sucks IMHO, but I have no doubt you’re correct.
About a decade ago, I was at a company that was being sued by a patent troll, and I got to experience discovery. Holy shit, they have tools that will scour your laptop HD almost instantly and find a lot of things that you forgot you had worked on.
AI is going to make that even more like a firehose enema.
(I had to sit a 30(b)6 deposition for this case, and that really truly sucked)
Patent troll cases are awful, worked on several. Yeah, that’s true about discovery, probably more so now than when I was working. Being a non-party deponent is never fun.
I've tried to close my ears to the oncoming AI assault. I'm older than you and clearly, employers would like to rid themselves of people like me. I dont WANT to go gently into that good night, but I may have to. Losing that one client...likely to AI, but also to the ego of the owners son (half my age) who wants to do it.... is forcing me to make some difficult decisions. I think people want to feel valuable, like they are contributing in some way. AI is going to rob people of that. And employers are creating a situation where no one will be able to buy their shit because AI took their jobs. We're losing our humanity. I'm getting depressed. :(
I share all your concerns. I harken back to H. Ross Perot and his giant sounds of NAFTA sucking the manufacturing jobs out of the US. Now it is the supposedly safe professions.
When I started at my current gig in 2016, I did a bunch of research into the "Future of Work", and there is a large body of scholarly effort in the late 1990's and early 2000's that mentioned that the professional class was likely o be safe, but one bastion of the entry into the middle class, Long Haul Truck Driving, would be gone in the early 2010's due to automation.
In an ironic turn, I think the truck drivers are safe (but that has become a very poor path into the middle class, as the consolidation of the major carriers has wiped out the pay structure, in a race to the bottom), and the professional "educated" class will be on the white knuckled ride.
I am so glad I am not 19 years old staring at what my future looks like. Because, they are fucked.
They are fucked indeed. I feel intensely grateful that I have my farm as a cushion. My grandmother made that possible for me...and I'll never forget it. Having some feeling of financial stability, though, doesnt fill the need to feel useful, a contributor, valuable. I'm going to have some serious windshield time starting tomorrow to take myself down off the ledge. 🤦♀️
Gotta love Ed and Geoff