
Mnuchin: Losing human jobs to AI “not even on our radar screen” - ziszis
http://www.axios.com/treasury-secretary-mnuchin-interviews-with-axios-live-updates-2327865447.html
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jstewartmobile
Early 20th cen farming jobs were made redundant by machinery and artificial
fertilizer. They didn't see it coming! Oversupply led to all sorts of adverse
consequences--worldwide depression probably being the least of them given that
much of the pre-WWII build-up was embarked upon as stimulus for broken
economies.

Old school automation (human-written programs and robots) has had just as
large an effect on manufacturing--it's just that the transition has been
smoother. International corporations are much better at preparing for change.
They see these things coming, then merge/consolidate/cross-license/etc and
adjust production to stay out of a race to the bottom.

For example, we have a single artificial sweetener plant here that produces
enough to supply the entire world. They have a second facility in Thailand,
though it's mostly there for redundancy/logistics/currency reasons, and this
is just one example of many! Same can be said for most feedstocks and
components, and even for some finished products.

If this is going to be the level of AI-preparedness for the next 4 yrs--
especially when huge swaths of the interior have been employment dead-zones
for over a decade now--deep learning is going to put us in even deeper shit.

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ziszis
"it's not even on our radar screen.... 50-100 more years" If he really
believes this there is a huge disconnect between the belief system of Wall
Street and Silicon Valley.

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tluyben2
Weird thing to say as well for someone in a gov position. 50-100 years would
mean you need to start preparing now as well for it.

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danielhooper
No it doesn't. 50 years from now we'll be struggling with the consequences of
climate change, and its fair to say the us gov has dropped the ball on that
issue. The us gov is comprised of people who deny climate change is a real
problem. Wait, this is sounding really familiar...

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ljw1001
There are many things that are real and not on the radar of Trump's
administration, including climate change. I'm not sure Mnuchin is doing
anything but cheerleading here.

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startupdiscuss
Meanwhile [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/robots-
artif...](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/robots-artificial-
intelligence-ai-threatening-third-of-uk-job-workforce-employment-
manufacturing-a7647191.html)

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woodandsteel
I wonder how long til Trump starts using robots to clean the rooms in his
hotels. 5 years? The reason Trump doesn't care about robots is they will
increase his profits.

