What Happened to Horses Is Happening to Us

CGP Grey · 19.8M views · 2014-08-13 · 15:01

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Overview

CGP Grey's video "Humans Need Not Apply" argues that automation will make a large part of the workforce economically obsolete, much as engines did for horses. It surveys robots and software replacing both physical and mental labor.

On Hacker News

HN has recommended it for a decade as the standard explainer on automation and unemployment, though skeptics later cite it as an example of overconfident predictions.

Recommended by 11 HN people across 11 months · HN mentions 2014–2026

Topics

Labor, work & inequality AI safety, AGI & impact Robotics

What people said

noetic_techy · 2016-12 · Strong recommendation
This article just leans on the same historic analogies that don't hold up to scrutiny. These answers fall way short of the effect of automation and AI will have. You are not replacing the job with another, you are replacing the human brain! I always refer people to this video to explain what it will be like, and it debases almost all the points made in this FAQ: [VIDEO] All these historical analogies fall flat on their face when it comes to an AI being trained to do your exact job. This is not another case of farmers moving to different higher skilled jobs. We are the employed horses of the 1800s about to be made unemployable by the advent of cars.
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csl · 2015-11 · Strong recommendation
This reminded me of the "Humans need not apply" video, which I strongly recommend, if you haven't already seen it: [VIDEO] Discussion: [LINK]
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scrollaway · 2015-09 · Strong recommendation
And people who refuse to see it are usually blind... The supermarkets I go to have greatly reduced their cashiers. In most cases by at least half, especially in small shops (3 cashiers has become 2-3 machines and one human). As for bakers, they don't just make bread and cake. Excellent video on the subject: CGPGrey - Humans Need Not Apply: [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by CGP Grey, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

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