[simplyluke]

Frameworks, compilers, and countless other developments in computing massively expanded the efficiency of programmers and that only expanded the field.

Short of genuine AGI I’ve yet to see a compelling argument why productivity eliminates jobs, when the opposite has been true in every modern economy.

[janalsncm]

> Frameworks, compilers, and countless other developments in computing

How would those have plausibly eliminated jobs? Neither frameworks nor compilers were the totality of the tasks a single person previously was assigned. If there was a person whose job it was to convert C code to assembly by hand, yes, a compiler would have eliminated most of those jobs.

If you need an example of automation eliminating jobs, look at automated switchboard operators. The job of human switchboard operator (mostly women btw) was eliminated in a matter of years.

Except here, instead of a low-paid industry we are talking about a relatively high-paid one, so the returns would be much higher.

A good analogy can be made to outsourcing for manufacturing. For a long time Chinese products were universally of worse quality. Then they caught up. Now, in many advanced manufacturing sectors the Chinese are unmatched. It was only hubris that drove arguments that Chinese manufacturing could never match America’s.