• Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So if I’m to believe you then no one should ever retrain for any better products ever, because it’s too cost prohibitive?

    That we should use a static set in cement set of products until the end of time, even if a better ones come out that require training?

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Nah there’s definitely another option and that’s to abolish capitalism.

      Did you know that with the automation tech from 10 years ago the world could already have 70% unemployed and yet produce western middle-class living standards for absolutely everyone? The reason it’s not done is not that investing in automation doesn’t have a gigantic ROI, it’s that it’s too long-term for capital to care. Also we don’t want that kind of power in the hands of capitalists anyway but that’s another story. The Diamond Age it’s called, I think.

      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        {Long ChatGPT-like diatribe that was ignored}

        Ah, here’s something I can actually reply to…

        The reason it’s not done is not that investing in automation doesn’t have a gigantic ROI, it’s that it’s too long-term for capital to care.

        No one said anything about automation. We were talking about a human being switching for one operating system to another and learning a new tool/program that will save them money in the long run, versus being short-sighted, or as they used to say, “penny-wise, and pound foolish”.

        Your position, as I understood it, was that it should never be done because it’s not cost beneficial, it’s cost prohibited. I was trying to get a qualifier from you of if you thought that was true for just short-term gains, or both short-term and long-term gains.

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I explained why it’s not done. I’m not saying that the system is good.

          The existing short-term and long-term incentive structure is what it is. That’s the material conditions we’re dealing with. Don’t like them? Become a revolutionary, but don’t stand there and pretend they don’t exist as if users are frictionless, spherical cows floating in platonic space.

          • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            They don’t exist, not in the way you’re trying to apply them to this situation and the question I asked. Your just strawmanning.

            • barsoap@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Ok I’ll humour you. If the material conditions aren’t as I described them to be, then what are they, in your opinion? What’s the cause? Why aren’t companies rushing to switch over their operations?