[lutefisk]

What about stagecoach drivers? Bread makers? Blacksmiths? Switchboard operator? What did all these people do when their services were no longer necessary / greatly diminished?

It's not like by Friday automated trucking will take over. You know it's coming, and if you don't start learning new skills or look for new work, then you're just ignorant to technology and will be out of a job.

[Diederich]

I think the key difference 'this time' is how quickly change is happening.

Second, in the past, change was necessarily isolated in most cases, because society and business wasn't so highly connected as it is today.

Concretely, at some point, a major trunking firm could replace most of its drivers with machines over the course of a couple of years, at most.

More generally, the rate of change continues to increase. A few hundred years ago, a person could live their life and see no substantive technological change. Now we see those changes happen, in some cases, in a few years.

[argonaut]

I don't think the change is coming quickly, actually. I think truck drivers have a good 10 years before they're out of a job, both due to technology (self-driving cars won't be fully autonomous for at least 5 years), and due to regulation/adoption (add another 5+ years). This actually leaves them less of an excuse to start retraining now, but it's also a problem because it gives most of them an excuse to dismiss the tech.

[Loughla]

>You know it's coming, and if you don't start learning new skills or look for new work, then you're just ignorant to technology and will be out of a job.

I didn't realize truck drivers were known for staying abreast of advances in technology.

[bluedino]

What happens as your list grows, as it will, and takes up every possible job? Eventually we could hit some sci-fi future where robots build other robots and AI comes up with new inventions on it's own.