Ellen's Very Southern VoiceRobots won't be taking peoples' jobs. Corporate owners will be taking peoples' jobs and giving them to robots.
Can we get the wording right on this?
SufferForMe 🆘And after the corporate owners give all the jobs to the robots, the only ones buying the corporate owners products or services will be... the robots? They won't be paying the robots? So who does that leave to buy the products or services?
MidniteMikeWrites@sufferforme @ellenmorrisprewitt I suspect the robots aren’t good enough in important domains to replace workers entirely. The goal is to discipline labor and put downward pressure on average wages.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvm1dyp9v2o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvm1dyp9v2o
@sufferforme @ellenmorrisprewitt on the off chance that we’re on the verge of the AI apocalypse/rapture… well apparently the economy (US) increasingly doesn’t need us. The top 10% of wealthiest Americans make up half the spending.
https://www.warc.com/content/feed/top-10-of-wealthy-americans-drive-50-of-us-spending/en-GB/10380
Top 10% of wealthy Americans drive 50% of US spending | WARC | The Feed
It’s nothing new to hear people casually say that the rich are getting richer, but it might never have been more true – recent economic data shows that the top 10% of Americans by wealth now account for 50% of all consumer spending in the country - the effect on marketing is complex, combining an obvious need to appeal to the top end of the market while also acknowledging the risks inherent when such a small but important group are so dominant.
@MidniteMikeWrites @sufferforme I've wondered about this question of who's left buying when no one has jobs with decent wages anymore. I had not seen this stat on spending...
the difference in spending hides a lot of hidden facts... out of 8 billion people, very few buy yachts. A lot more buy washing machines (as an example), and the top 10% with their 50% of all spending do not buy half the washing machines, or smartphones, or computers, etc. And as those more expensive little 'luxuries' become out of reach for a growing proportion of people, these are the areas that will be hit hardest, not the yachts or private jets.
@sufferforme @ellenmorrisprewitt This is true, but a lot of companies have begun changing their business models to cater to wealther consumers.
Home builders prioritize building luxury apartments and condos over regular ones. The game industry now agressively prioritizes live services where the functionality is designed to appeal to whales. Often alienating their user base to do so.
This isn't universal, but some compnies seem to be adapting to inequality by just pricing out poor consumers.