

The End of the Job maybe a Good Thing - robpatrob
http://smartpei.typepad.com/robert_patersons_weblog/2011/08/the-end-of-the-job-the-end-of-the-corporation-as-we-know-it.html

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nextparadigms
This is why I think automation of even more complex jobs is a _good_ thing.
Usually (always?) automation of something means a lower barrier to entry. But
if "automation" becomes so intelligent that it ends up replacing nearly all
jobs, for who exactly does it lower the barrier to entry, if not for
employees?

I think it lowers the barrier to entry for entrepreneurs. The trend is clear.
Because of the Internet, there are more and more entrepreneurs, and fewer
"employees". The impact is not that great yet, but the robot workforce
revolution will accelerate this trend.

Imagine a future where almost everyone is an "entrepreneur". That future will
be much like the past (think 100-200 years ago), where most people were
actually entrepreneurs. Except this time an entrepreneur will be able to offer
a service or product on a much larger scale, not just for his family.

But is that sustainable? Can everyone offer services to everyone else? I say
yes. We already have a ton of services on the Internet that we don't
necessarily think we _all_ need, but many of us are using them to keep those
startups in business.

If the last century was mostly about everyone being an employee and working in
a large factory or for a large corporation, this century will be about
everyone being an entrepreneur. The more "automation" we'll have, the easier
it will be for everyone to start a business, and implement many of their own
ideas, or sell their own skills as a freelancer, which I think is still a type
of entrepreneur.

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jeffool
I don't disagree with you. In fact, I largely after with you... That type of
society is sustainable. The question is, however, how we get from our current
system to that one. It does not look like it will happen naturally. Instead it
looks like we're headed more toward a "the people who have the wealth now will
retain it for a long time to come" future.

I don't see starting a new, successful, business, as getting easier, like you
seem to.

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robpatrob
I think we are moving to an economy that is made up of the very small
aggregated to the large in a network and quite local - a new line on the old
of 200 years ago.

Imagine several Fab labs in your community making things on demand - a food
system where many small units say 300 hen flocks + a few cows, pigs, sheep on
pasture also aggregated. Imagine every house and building collecting and
distributing energy.

The automation enables us to do this as right now we can make movies etc at a
fraction of the costs and so you and I can do things that before woud have
taken a lot of capital.

Using the network effect a good local system can have a large infrastructure
based on the aggregation at a cost we can all cope with

Do I make sense?

~~~
zmonkeyz
Makes perfect sense.

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robpatrob
It can't be easy - I think desperation will help - look at Urban food in
Detroit and Cleveland

I am doing this
[http://smartpei.typepad.com/robert_patersons_weblog/2011/08/...](http://smartpei.typepad.com/robert_patersons_weblog/2011/08/the-
queen-street-commons-helping-very-small-businesses-our-emerging-mission.html)

Building out from what is where I live

