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Thread: White collar automation?

  1. #31
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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  2. #32
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dmc View Post
    But that takes work.
    Someone over on the Mr. Money Mustache website said, on a thread about demanding additional time off from one's employer, that he worked best in a situation where the work and environment was already set up for him. He couldnt make his own job, he isnt optimized for that and so no, he cant go off to make his own job. But he wants his employer to torque his worksite to please him.

    ah,.most people would ragher work for someone else, and not themselves.

  3. #33
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
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    Some time ago, i attended a special series of sessions for training leaders in our community. It was interesting to me that one session was for five so-called successful entrepreneurs to tell others how to set up their own enterprises. In almost every case, it was the father of the speaker who had set up the enterprise and the son had simply stepped into a job. One of the speakers actually confessed this openly and said he had experienced the good fortune of succeeding a successful father and felt unqualified to speak on the how-to aspect.

    One speaker was very derogatory about those who couldn't get a job or start their own businesses.

    Afterwards, i investigated this further with the overall Coordinator of whole leadership program. Interestingly, the derogatory speaker had worked for no one other than his father who had started the business after losing his own job - the father did have a kindly mentor who showed him the path in providing and marketing millwright services.

    After my questions, the Coordinator investigated the program and its speakers a great deal further and it was shortly thereafter discontinued.

    Whenever, i read about people discussing the transition from employment to self-employment, i remember those five speakers and wonder how many kindly mentors are in the crowd. i was self-employed for 6 years and it is tough to develop the skills and do all the jobs required to succeed. One does need a new idea, opportunity and strong desire and a kindly mentor can really help.
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  4. #34
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    As a reminder, California is not a liberal haven. After all, they passed Prop 8.

  5. #35
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that IT and other emerging technologies could spawn any number of new industries. The commercial exploitation of space. Gene therapies. Smart power grids. The "internet of things". Whole new arenas for us to sue one another. Deadly new weapons and their countermeasures. Climate engineering. Weird, wonderful, marketable stuff we can't even think of. Why assume we will be less imaginative and greedy than our ancestors?
    You're undoubtedly correct that new ideas and industries will emerge over time. My question is whether they will need anywhere near the number of workers who are going to be displaced. It seems more likely to me that we'll see a repeat of what happened when we offshored significant portions of our manufacturing base. Lots of people will find themselves unemployable at anything close to their former wages regardless of how much time and money is put into "retraining" efforts. And with that the divide between the "winners" who are able to adapt and move up from their previous middle class standing vs. the "losers" who fall down the socioeconomic ladder will become larger than it already is and the truly middle class will continue to dwindle.

  6. #36
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Why do I keep thinking "Let them eat cake..."

    How arrogant we are to think only those who are unusually well-positioned to take advantage of new technologies--well-educated, well-connected UMC types and "better"--deserve a decent life.

    Oh well, I guess the rest can just join the military to take advantage of the many attractive perks. How does that go? "Travel to exotic locations, meet exotic people, and kill them." I imagine the present administration will maximize the potential for many such adventures.

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by JaneV2.0 View Post
    Why do I keep thinking "Let them eat cake..."

    How arrogant we are to think only those who are unusually well-positioned to take advantage of new technologies--well-educated, well-connected UMC types and "better"--deserve a decent life.

    Oh well, I guess the rest can just join the military to take advantage of the many attractive perks. How does that go? "Travel to exotic locations, meet exotic people, and kill them." I imagine the present administration will maximize the potential for many such adventures.
    I think it's a pretty far cry from saying the evolving economy will favor particular skills to "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche".

    But I do see how it's easier to ascribe ugly motivations than to attack ideas.

  8. #38
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by razz View Post
    Some time ago, i attended a special series of sessions for training leaders in our community. It was interesting to me that one session was for five so-called successful entrepreneurs to tell others how to set up their own enterprises. In almost every case, it was the father of the speaker who had set up the enterprise and the son had simply stepped into a job. One of the speakers actually confessed this openly and said he had experienced the good fortune of succeeding a successful father and felt unqualified to speak on the how-to aspect.

    One speaker was very derogatory about those who couldn't get a job or start their own businesses.

    Afterwards, i investigated this further with the overall Coordinator of whole leadership program. Interestingly, the derogatory speaker had worked for no one other than his father who had started the business after losing his own job - the father did have a kindly mentor who showed him the path in providing and marketing millwright services.

    After my questions, the Coordinator investigated the program and its speakers a great deal further and it was shortly thereafter discontinued.

    Whenever, i read about people discussing the transition from employment to self-employment, i remember those five speakers and wonder how many kindly mentors are in the crowd. i was self-employed for 6 years and it is tough to develop the skills and do all the jobs required to succeed. One does need a new idea, opportunity and strong desire and a kindly mentor can really help.
    That is very interesting! Self employment is a tough road. And then, moving beyond being a single entrepreneur to employing people is a huge deal. Creating those jobs for others--invaluable!

    I am proud of DH for quitting a job on a Friday, and starting out in his own business the collowng Mnday, and making a go of tat for years until he retired. He never made a lot of money, but he worked ten hour days and enjoyed most of it, and he survived through the housing crash when many who were doing similar work did not make it. But he never had employees and that was intentional.

  9. #39
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LDAHL View Post
    I think it's a pretty far cry from saying the evolving economy will favor particular skills to "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche".

    But I do see how it's easier to ascribe ugly motivations than to attack ideas.
    And here I thought I was attacking ideas...I didn't ascribe any motivations--I left that up to the reader. Is hubris a motivation?

  10. #40
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Being a small business owner definitely doesn't appeal to everyone. My eye doctor in NJ is an example of someone who hates it. I remember having a conversation with her about it where she admitted to hating being a small business owner. She had started her career as a staff doctor working in her dad's practice. For almost 30 years she was content with just being responsible for her patients' eye health. Several years prior to my conversation with her her dad had died suddenly and the succession plan that had put in place (he was in his late 50's when he passed away) was acted on. All of the details she'd never wanted to be involved in (dealing with their landlord, staffing, insurance companies, etc) were now her responsibility. The practice has survived just fine but she admitted their were a lot of days where she wished she could just close the doors and go be on staff in someone else's practice again.

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