The internet destroyed teh middle class

[Luddly Neddite]

Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class - Salon.com

“Here’s a current example of the challenge we face,” he writes in the book’s prelude: “At the height of its power, the photography company Kodak employed more than 140,000 people and was worth $28 billion. They even invented the first digital camera. But today Kodak is bankrupt, and the new face of digital photography has become Instagram. When Instagram was sold to Facebook for a billion dollars in 2012, it employed only 13 people. Where did all those jobs disappear? And what happened to the wealth that all those middle-class jobs created?”

Its certainly true that the internet has changed our world in ways we could not have foreseen twenty years ago. Honestly, I can remember thinking I would never have a use for email. Now, retired, I have a new and surprisingly lucrative business selling on Amazon.

If I had had the internet when I was twenty years old, I would never have had to leave my house to earn a living.

Looking forward to reading his book as well as a couple of others mentioned in the article.

 

[auditor0007]

Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class - Salon.com

“Here’s a current example of the challenge we face,” he writes in the book’s prelude: “At the height of its power, the photography company Kodak employed more than 140,000 people and was worth $28 billion. They even invented the first digital camera. But today Kodak is bankrupt, and the new face of digital photography has become Instagram. When Instagram was sold to Facebook for a billion dollars in 2012, it employed only 13 people. Where did all those jobs disappear? And what happened to the wealth that all those middle-class jobs created?”

Its certainly true that the internet has changed our world in ways we could not have foreseen twenty years ago. Honestly, I can remember thinking I would never have a use for email. Now, retired, I have a new and surprisingly lucrative business selling on Amazon.

If I had had the internet when I was twenty years old, I would never have had to leave my house to earn a living.

Looking forward to reading his book as well as a couple of others mentioned in the article.

When people started buying cars, a lot of carriage makers went out of business, as well as blacksmiths. It's amazing the economy survived with all those job losses.

 

[PaulS1950]

The blacksmiths became mechanics and the carriage makers went to work building cars. When the car manufacturers switched to robots to do the welding and painting there were jobs made to keep the robots maintained. Technology does away with one job and creates different jobs. You either adapt or starve.

 

[AmazonTania]

You mean the internet made Americans so stupid that they can no longer compete with the rest of the world?

Yeah, I can believe that.