Reddit debate: machines taking jobs was always the goal — so why do we treat it as apocalypse?
Foreign-Night-3322 · reddit · 2026-11-15
A Reddit long post argues that "the machines are taking our jobs" is one of the most absurd sentences humans have ever uttered: we invented machines precisely to take over exhausting, repetitive labor, and that was always the dream.
Key points:
- When machines finally got good enough to do the work, humanity's reaction flipped from "someday machines will do the work for us" to horror — even though it should be incredible news.
- Instead of liberation, losing your job to a machine can mean losing income, housing, healthcare and the ability to eat. We built a system where being freed from labor can destroy your life.
- The most disturbing part: facing possibly the greatest liberation from labor in history, our first question wasn't "what will people do with that freedom?" but "how will they earn the right to keep living?" — because we built a world where your usefulness to the economy determines how much of your life you're allowed to have.
The takeaway: the real problem isn't powerful machines, it's that nobody planned for what happens to humans once the machines actually take over.
Related event: Reddit Debates Why AI Taking Jobs Should Be Good News(2 posts)→
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