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this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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Yeah, that has worked really well in the past. At least here in the US when people are pushed out of jobs to enrich capitalists we tend to find a way to criminalize them and warehouse them in prisons while their communities rot.
According to this podcast on collapse I once heard, not once in human history has a technological breakthrough made humans less productive.
Let me fix that for you. Technology makes society more productive, over time. It does not necessarily make individual humans more productive or better off. A while back I read similar studies, which found the economic disruption of technology jumps like this can easily be two generations.
The other concern is location. Not everyone is perfectly mobile. If you have a major employer in a region make huge cutbacks, some people will find a better location but most will suffer, be unable to adapt
Let me throw out the coal industry in the US as an example. Over the decades, more automation has meant continued profits even in a declining industry. Society is more productive. The corps are more productive. However coal mining towns and their people most decidedly are not. Some people left. Some people were able to adapt. But all too many still know nothing but the illusion of good jobs that haven’t been there in decades and continue to disappear ever faster
A loss in coal jobs doesn't mean a loss everywhere in the energy sector.
When we are looking at Appalachia, their descent into what could almost be described as fifth world or failed world alignment isn't necessarily because of technological advancement but of cultural stagnation.
From the 1880s to the 1920s the rednecks were imprisoned and murdered while the hicks consolidated power.
The jobs are still there nationwide, just mostly in the places that still have educated workforces. A large reason why coal country is hanging onto coal instead of supporting those retraining programs that will allow them entry into the markets that historically red places like Arizona and Montana are getting in on is that the inhabitants of those States didn't murder their intelligent people at the behest of business.
Well, if the people really cared about their well-being and doing less work then they would enact laws to ensure the redistribution of wealth.