Mastodawn

@AAKL @BusinessInsider Shhhh this is one stupid decision we can actually take advantage of

@Epic_Null @BusinessInsider How so?

Epic Null

@AAKL @BusinessInsider He is calling for UBI and a shorter work week, while also proposing a shift to taxing successful companies.

UBI and a shorter week paid for through higher corporate taxes gives workers more time and puts money where it needs to be - the hands of people who are likely to spend it on things they need.

(I am one of those weirdos who thinks we should be having shorter weeks by now, regardless of AI)

Oliver D. Reithmaier 1d ago

@Epic_Null @AAKL @BusinessInsider you mean, like scientists, right? I had to take a crap load of Industrial psych during my masters and that was basically the consensus.

@odr_k4tana @AAKL @BusinessInsider Can you rephrase? I am having trouble figuring out what the "like scientists" refers to

Oliver D. Reithmaier 1d ago

@Epic_Null @AAKL @BusinessInsider weird people

@odr_k4tana @AAKL @BusinessInsider Ah, so the weirdos is the part you are referring to.

I am sure plenty of scientists fall in this category, yes.

@Epic_Null @AAKL @BusinessInsider There was an article called "In Praise of Idleness" posted here a while back, which is from right after WW1. He argues that if they had kept the rational production scheme from the war, we could have had shorter hours even then.

There are some hard and stubborn laws of economics that get in the way of that no matter how advanced tech gets. It is cheaper to employ one person for 8 hours than two for 4, even if you get rid of fixed costs like health care 1/2

@Epic_Null @AAKL @BusinessInsider as a factor. Above 8 hours a day you get diminishing returns in output from most people.

If you wanted to shorten hours, four days a week makes more sense than working a few hours every weekday. There are two or three hours of overhead in getting to and from work.

That would require legally treating more than say 30 hours a week as "time and a half" and fixing the "management salaried" garbage in places like tech.

Technically possible, but not likely. 2/2

@mike805 @Epic_Null @BusinessInsider When you're employing one person for 10 hours per day on a four-day week, you have to pay two hours of night differential, assuming you're following labor laws, if they still exist.

Also, historically, the human body isn't used to 10 hours; and your mind quits after eight, though I suppose you could train it to do so.

@AAKL @Epic_Null @BusinessInsider Four days of eight hours would be 32 hours a week and a good place to start.

We need to get rid of the treatment of tech workers and the like as salaried and on call all the time. If they work more than 4x8 they should get time and a half like anyone else.

And we need to decouple health care from work. People who can afford it should buy it in a free market, and there should be a very simple and straightforward subsidy for those who need one.

@mike805 @Epic_Null @BusinessInsider It's good, but it's utopian. Businesses would never allow it. Instead, they would use AI.

mike805 16h ago

@AAKL @Epic_Null @BusinessInsider They had better use AI to genuinely improve the situation for ordinary people. If they do not, there will eventually be large scale sabotage of AI.

We've seen in the Middle East recently, that stuff is very vulnerable and costly to fix.

The chip manufacturing process also has many single source components.

I don't want that to happen because it would wreck the good stuff too. But it will happen if they don't wise up like they did against Communism.

@mike805 @AAKL @BusinessInsider For that last part I say we should not be buying healthcare at all. It should be single payer.

I shoud not need to gamble on whether or not I get into an accident or develop cancer, and it REALLY should not be the case where the poor have less options for healthcare because their employer values them less, or because they didn't get the same advantages as a child.

@Epic_Null @AAKL @BusinessInsider When you have something worrying you and the public healthcare system says you can be checked in six months, you will wish you could pay the price of a new smartphone to get it looked at right now. That is my #1 fear with regard to single payer.

My #2 fear is what is happening in Canada right now. Treatment in months or euthanasia now.

We have feed-the-poor programs without the government controlling the grocery business. Health care is not different.

@mike805 @Epic_Null @BusinessInsider Right now, both options exist. Public healthcare entails delays as you describe. Private healthcare is very expensive and a lot of people can't afford it. But it comes in handy when you are faced with critical public health delays.

The public health systems are stressed out financially, which means you end up paying more taxes. Which is more expensive? A hybrid approach probably is the best one.

@AAKL @mike805 @BusinessInsider My primary issue with a hybrid approach is capitalism.

Which is to say we need money out of politics so we stop sabotaging public services to force people to use the buisnesses.

@Epic_Null @mike805 @BusinessInsider That's one way to look at it. And you're not wrong.

@Epic_Null @AAKL @BusinessInsider That I agree with. I just mailed in my taxes. If I do them myself there is no good way to file electronically, because it has been deliberately blocked.

@AAKL @Epic_Null @BusinessInsider The public health system will always be somewhat stressed financially, because if you could walk into a doctor in 5 minutes for free every time you had a headache, a lot of people would do exactly that. If the roads are free there will be traffic.

People should not be losing their teeth for lack of dental care, and that is happening.

Public system should be decent and you should be able to pay for urgency or fancy stuff.