Hacker News Reader

That transition was FAR different than the one we're faced with in the near future. People moved from agriculture to factory jobs, because there was still a massive need for labor. We don't have that today. Someone being displaced as a semi driver isn't going to suddenly hop into an AI startup.

So back to the question: What does that person do? How do they feed and house their family?

View on HN

People who were displaced out of agriculture didn't necessarily go get factory jobs either. The industrial revolution was massively disruptive socially, and a lot of people didn't come through fine. A lot of them drank themselves to death, much like the opioid crisis today. It was their children who adapted to a new economy.

> So back to the question: What does that person do? How do they feed and house their family?

We need to build the political will to take care of them through guaranteed basic income or equivalent. And even if we do some of them will still drink themselves to death anyway, because they see welfare as shameful.

And the life expectancy of a factory worker was insane. Cities were in a constant population decline, only propped up by people in the country having to find work.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com