Ask HN: What will you do when AGI's make you obselete?

2 points by simon_000666 2 years ago | 4 comments

I'm by no means thinking this will happen imminently. But the news last night around A* made me wonder. If AGI really is 5/10/15 years out, it will presumably make most software engineers & people involved in the creation of software obsolete. Including myself. The average age of a software engineer is 39 years old. There are currently 27 million software engineers in the world. What will we all retrain as? Which professions do people think will still make sense to be done by us humans in the meat space?

ingonealan3 2 years ago |

I think that, at the accelerating pace of technological innovation, and especially in the context of truly revolutionary innovations like AGI, it's really hard to foresee the ways in which the game board will get shuffled around. If I was pushed to make a prediction, though, I'd bet on the fact that technically minded people will still play an important role, one way or another, in a technologically advanced society. At the same time, I think that our physical nature, and certain traits such as empathy, will become more important. Maybe focusing on developing healthy soft skills, as a long-term goal, would make sense in such a context.

thaanpaa 2 years ago |

The notion that everyone must work will eventually become obsolete. It will most likely be remembered as a brief and miserable but significant period in human history.

weatherlite 2 years ago |

I think either try becoming a nurse or a teacher for me, and both are very far from being automated. Neither is a great solution but it will do for 10-15 years. after that - retirement.

its-summertime 2 years ago |

I'd probably die of old age by then, just like bus drivers hearing the same thing 20 years ago.