Comment by Dean Cording (DeanCording) on Conversational Presentation of Why Automation is Different This Time · 2018-01-19T23:58:31.932Z · LW · GW

One thing that needs to be considered is that the median age of the population is increasing, The UN predicts the median world population age will increase from 30 in 2020 to 40 in 2085. Therefore the pool of low skill manual workers, typically made up of younger generations, is shrinking. On the flip side is the expanding pool of older people who need support services. Automation is a good solution to addressing this change. The change will only cause disruption if automation occurs faster than the change in demographics can support it.

The other consequence we need to consider is that automation changes the balance between labour and capital as to their ability to produce income. Whereas previously the majority of income is earnt by people selling their labour, as automation progresses the income earning ability will significantly increase for people with the capital to invest in such systems. This is probably the most disruptive change and the need to look at solutions like basic income.