> I thought this would go without saying, but once SWE jobs are automated by AI (if it were to happen), then every job can be automated.
I think this is exactly right, and possibly a good thing relative to the alternative. If AI were able to automate 20% of office-type jobs, you'd have a lot of people out of work, but likely not enough for anyone to do anything about it at a societal level. Those people would just be given some platitude in the same way out of work coal miners or assembly line workers were snidely told to "learn to code".
If every or nearly every office-type job gets automated, it would force us to address the issue in a meaningful way.
I think this is exactly right, and possibly a good thing relative to the alternative. If AI were able to automate 20% of office-type jobs, you'd have a lot of people out of work, but likely not enough for anyone to do anything about it at a societal level. Those people would just be given some platitude in the same way out of work coal miners or assembly line workers were snidely told to "learn to code".
If every or nearly every office-type job gets automated, it would force us to address the issue in a meaningful way.