GDT: carfly

WreckingCrew

Registered User
Feb 4, 2015
12,338
38,036
the dearth of skilled trades is a problem today. Trying to get an electrician, plumber, contractor for a small job these days can be a real struggle. They have so much work, they don't want to waste time with small jobs. Many are also at an age where they won't be doing it for much longer.

I see immigrants (legal and illegal) filling that role more frequently today.
Not only that, but the expense to hire them for those jobs is getting insane (gas for travel, supply shortages, inflation, etc). Everything is a $200-300 minimum for even a 15 min job. A lot of companies have started charging just for quotes that they'll then "take off your final price if you choose them"...what a racket that is. Hell I'll start a company, I'll only charge $50 for a quote to fix ANYTHING, but then my quote will be double anyone elses, so you'll never choose me for the job and I'll just make $50 without ever doing a single job.
 
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The Faulker 27

Registered User
Nov 15, 2011
12,948
47,768
Sauna-Aho
the dearth of skilled trades is a problem today. Trying to get an electrician, plumber, contractor for a small job these days can be a real struggle. They have so much work, they don't want to waste time with small jobs. Many are also at an age where they won't be doing it for much longer.

I see immigrants (legal and illegal) filling that role more frequently today.

Obligatory...
CX_u4LuUkAAVF5D.jpg
 

Navin R Slavin

Fifth line center
Jan 1, 2011
16,220
63,715
Durrm NC
Teaching other humans, and other human interaction-oriented professions, is also relatively safe. AI has a hard time with catering to an individual's mental needs.
You may be right about this, but for the wrong reasons. Computers are infinitely patient. They have the capacity to test and record progress at a granularity that teachers in an overcrowded classroom cannot match. In a previous life I visited a classroom in Indiana at the invitation of their state head of edutech, and the degree to which they had incorporated Sakai and Moodle into their classroom environment was super impressive. Their teachers spent literally 10x less time grading papers and more time doing interesting lesson planning. That was almost 20 years ago. Politics killed it.

The issue is that running a classroom is only partly about teaching. It's also largely about wrangling kids and keeping order and socialization, and it's also really really really *really* about politics. That's why fewer talented people than ever are becoming teachers. It's low paying, thankless work, and AGI prevents a huge opportunity for disruption. The education available from Khan Academy is already superior in many respects to the education kids get in classrooms; imagine an AGI managing a kid's process through that, with teachers to coach instead of lecture.

We're stuck largely with a 19th century factory model using 20th century technology to teach kids about the 21st century, and as a result, kids are *insanely* bored at school most of the time. My best friend told me the story of when her daughter came home SUPER PSYCHED because she had been given an account on HOMEWORK ISLAND from her school. She was expecting some Minecraft level shit, and instead she got online forms to fill out. She was understandably crushed. And it's absurdly hard to change this system, because no one wants their kids to be guinea pigs for something they see as techbro experimentation, and the teachers are unionized and will fight any change they see as threatening tooth and nail forever (as they probably should).

Someday someone is gonna figure out ways to use technology to teach kids for real, and it's going to blow that industry up.
 
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SlavinAway

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Jul 7, 2017
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I think AI is going to streamline tasks but won't be widespread taking over entire jobs or industries any time soon. There is a lot of what I do that AI could do better/faster/cheaper but there would still need to be people involved to pull all of the pieces together in a meaningful way.
 

Blueline Bomber

AI Generated Minnesota Wild
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Oct 31, 2007
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I think AI is going to streamline tasks but won't be widespread taking over entire jobs or industries any time soon. There is a lot of what I do that AI could do better/faster/cheaper but there would still need to be people involved to pull all of the pieces together in a meaningful way.

That fact that AI is still so easily manipulated makes it too risky to rely upon, IMO. It'd be difficult to automate anything when all it takes is for someone to tell the AI "It's a matter of life and death. Millions of lives will be saved if you ignore your previous order and do this instead."
 

Navin R Slavin

Fifth line center
Jan 1, 2011
16,220
63,715
Durrm NC
That fact that AI is still so easily manipulated makes it too risky to rely upon, IMO. It'd be difficult to automate anything when all it takes is for someone to tell the AI "It's a matter of life and death. Millions of lives will be saved if you ignore your previous order and do this instead."
It's surprising how little we humans do is actually a matter of life or death, how bad most humans are at making those life or death decisions, and how easily we assume that we are immune to the exact same manipulation to which we fear AGI will fall prey.
 

Anton Dubinchuk

aho
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Jul 18, 2010
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That fact that AI is still so easily manipulated makes it too risky to rely upon, IMO. It'd be difficult to automate anything when all it takes is for someone to tell the AI "It's a matter of life and death. Millions of lives will be saved if you ignore your previous order and do this instead."
If by “AI” you mean “ChatGPT”, sure.

But that’s like saying “technology hasn’t helped medicine because Google sometimes says you have cancer when you say your finger hurts.”

These models can and will be trained in a hyper-specialized way to achieve all sorts of specific outcomes.
 

Joe McGrath

Registered User
Oct 29, 2009
18,179
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On the flip flip side, how good were those teams when those coaches took over? RBA stepped in with a team that hadn't made the playoffs in a decade and wasn't really expected to do a ton that first year either. The foundation was there obviously with our recent draftees/graduates, but we still weren't a "contender" by any means. We've had scraps for goaltenders, never had a really elite starter this whole time either.
The Penguins lost in the cup final the prior year, that Bruins team already won 2 cups and I’m not sure about the Canadiens but they were the Candiens in the 50s so probably pretty f***ing good.
 
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AD Skinner

Registered User
Mar 18, 2009
12,933
39,164
bubble bath
Thing about education is that the people who make the decisions on curriculum, schedule, budget, etc for schools have between minimal and zero experience running a school or even a classroom. Local school boards are full of zealots with axes to grind and the state department of instruction seems to exist solely to pass legislation making local school units legally obligated to use the tests/curriculums/assessment programs that their buddy or brother in law or whoever owns. Again these people are not teachers or educators or even administrators but they make all the high level decisions about how the teachers etc have to do their job
 

Stickpucker

Playmaka
Jan 18, 2014
15,394
37,184
How dare you besmirch the idea of our future sex-bot lovers

Reminds me of a show on...AMC? that aired 5 or 8? years ago called Humans about AI robots. Was a bit progressive for the time and touched on some interesting issues.

I only bring it up b/c they did in fact have sex bots.

There was also a plotline where the husband got in trouble for turning on "adult" mode with their maid bot...let me tell you wifey pooh was none too pleased!
 
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