Ask HN: How to Survive Post-AGI?

1 pointsnullptr_deref2y ago3 comments

To me, AGI is here. The fact that capabilities of current gen AI allows me to build small stuff means it can do what I am good at. It can build small stuffs.

Now what would it take to survive in this world? I wasn't fortunate enough to build popular applications that would be extremely valuable. What I worked on is worthless to potential employers because I do not even get a callback for an interview. Then there is AGI which is good at what I do.

So how do I survive this? Should I resort to farming by quitting Soft. eng? Or should I start lifting boxes after spending a 30 years of my life on stupid things like academia. South park made an amazing episode recently.

3 comments

3 comments · 3 top-level

api2y ago

I predict that AI will increase overall demand for knowledge work, though some types of it will likely be wholly made obsolete and replaced by other types.

When something comes along that is a force amplifier it usually grows the economy, increasing labor demand.

This is good because it means we are unlikely to see permanent unemployment, but it’s also bad because it’s why we are working harder and harder even as our productivity increases. Our growth does not lead to an age of leisure because it creates yet more work to be done.

Computers for example replaced tons and tons of manual office work but also created a massive industry of programmers and IT admins to service computers.

smoldesu2y ago

You could try adopting a less hyperbolic attitude. The job market is garbage right now, you wouldn't get a call back if you had Barack Obama and 50 cabaret dancers on the line. Employers are being stingy, waiting out the recession and seeing if anything is going to happen.

If you want to go be a subsistence farmer, go do it. The only thing stopping you right now is a lack of motivation, you don't even have to quit your academic pursuits. My advice is to dust yourself off, and either avoid AI if you really hate it or leverage it to turn a quick buck. Either way, the sky has not fallen and I've seen no indication that a single developer's work can be replaced with AI.