here's the spirit. Often people will dismiss the human consequences of innovation with the logic that it hasn't been all that bad in the past. But the reality is that for effected people it really has been all that bad.
Take the Luddites. They seem kinda silly ... going around breaking mechanical looms ... until you put yourself in their shoes. These weren't the poorest of the poor, unskilled laborers. They were skilled laborers who put effort into learning a craft whose skills were suddenly devalued by automation. And that was bad enough for them that they were willing to risk death to destroy mechanical looms.
What? No - not nitpick. You cherrypicked words to exclude the writer's caveat, changing the meaning, then criticised the changed meaning. Classic out-of-context quoting, especially since the writer addressed your criticism in the very same sentence you quoted.
you do realize its absurd to talk about 'out-of-context' quoting when the full comment is sitting right there for everyone to read?
I was responding to a particular part of the comment, hence why I highlighted that, but obviously the whole comment is right there!
My opinion, and what I was articulating is that saying
this will suck if you're 50 years old and get laid off the assembly line
is a flippant dismissal of a serious issue.
Its like saying 'it will suck if you're a Syrian whose family gets wiped out in the civil war ... but hey we've been having wars in the Middle East for 100 years and its not particularly terrifying.'
here's the spirit. Often people will dismiss the human consequences of innovation with the logic that it hasn't been all that bad in the past. But the reality is that for effected people it really has been all that bad.
Take the Luddites. They seem kinda silly ... going around breaking mechanical looms ... until you put yourself in their shoes. These weren't the poorest of the poor, unskilled laborers. They were skilled laborers who put effort into learning a craft whose skills were suddenly devalued by automation. And that was bad enough for them that they were willing to risk death to destroy mechanical looms.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRluddites.htm