"Robots/China taking US jobs" = Biggest Issue of Our Times?

[Mossling]

This video has just blown me away - one sentence remains poignant: "not every factory worker can be reskilled to become a sushi chef"... :/ , but he says that there are probbaly realistic potential solutions to the 50 percent job replacement he predicts - and in 10-15 years no less!

He is a true expert in the field of ai development and application and predicts all kinds of incredible developments that sound logical enough. He has a considerable resume - working with the likes of Google, Microsoft, Apple, and so on.

At 49:00 he gives his opinion on the ai 'consciousness' question - that there is no engineering basis for that - that ai is just a tool, and that the talk of hypothetical self-conscious robots is just that - purely hypothetical and nowhere near realistic yet.

[Mossling]

I wish to, if I may, split off the current discussion to a new thread to streamline the topic somewhat, so I have started a new thread here: Living in a soon-to-be AI-driven Society (within 15 yrs)

Because this present thread includes issues related to China labour outsourcing and specifically how that affects the US, but this on-going AI revolution that we are now talking about is occurring beyond the US, and will ultimately replace the advantages of globalised outsourcing, even, it seems.

[Serpent]

As for the US, it's not the factories in china or the robots that are the great threat. It's their own political and social malaise.
Once they figure out that the government is not their friend, Americans will seek alliances among themselves; disarm their dysfunctional criminal justice system, enforce protective regulation and build local economies with whatever resources - natural, human and relict - are at hand in each town.

I believe that's already happening on a small scale. Co-ops, DIY, barter networks and independent contractors are thriving in the undergrowth.