Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

>>If growth stagnates, there's no guarantee for job replacement.

No guarantees, but no hard rules euther.

PCs are the ultimate clerical and administrative machines. You don't need secretaries or typists. Don't need memos and mailrooms. Stuff gets filed automatically.

We put one on every desk. Typists and secretaries went away, but administration went on a growth spurt. Whether it's school admin, corporate HR or hospital billing.. Administrative work became much more plentiful once PCs proliferated.

We write, more letters, file more forms, sign more agreements. Maybe that stuff is valuable, and since we can do more of it with computers, we do. Maybe it has nothing to do with efficiency or value.

Whatever the case, it demonstrates that the "progress Vs luddites" debate can't be solved with a simple model.

Absurdity assume a reasonable world. Sometimes the world is weird.




Could be a case of Jevons paradox?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

Sometimes when things look weird to us, it just means that it's counterintuitive and necessarily irrational




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: