Jobs of yesteryear

Victims of technology

I was reminiscing about the days of Christmas shopping in the old Hudson's department store in downtown Detroit (now gone) and the job of the elevator operator. I doubt that any of these jobs exist any more. What other jobs have disappeared in the name of 'progress?'

Here are a few


The Friehoffer wagon that brought the donuts fresh from the bakery. (Later became a truck, but that is gone too)

Milk men.

Gas station attendants that checked EVERYTHING and topped off the fluids.

House calls by doctors.

Mark H

Past Jobs

Dry Cleaners picking up and dropping off at the house.

Bread delivery to the house.

Life insurance men that came to the house for payment and to service the account.

Door to door encyclopedia salesmen.

Leo

TV repair shops

and shoe repair shops

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Its more like \"what jobs CAN'T be replaced by new technology?\"

In the old day they were much more honest about what lay ahead in the future. They honestly said that someday people would not have to work, that machines would do almost everything. Now, with that day much closer to the present, people are in denial about what is happening or why.

If you do a search on the Internet for what is known as "Moore's Law" you will see that the amount of computing power available for given cost is doubling approximately every eighteen months. That means that the cost of a computer necessary to do any given job is being divided in half in roughly the same time.

Many human jobs require quite a bit of brainpower. That is why people are still the cheapest computers available for those jobs. However, the rate of development of new technologies is very fast, and the time between a technology is developed and its widespread adoption and then, commoditization is shortening. What this means is obvious, we are headed towards a workless society. That is an apolitical imperative that presents a hige challenge to society in how we deal with it Obviously, businesses will be very profitable without the costs of labor that they have now. Total economic output will still be the same.

However, who will buy the products of industry if almost all wealth is inherited or derived through investment, not wages? Will we see a coming together to face this challenge or widespread economic stratification and disinvestment?

I think that we are in denial about the true cost of many industrial activities. It will cost a lot to clean up the aftermath of industrial society. Huge areas are still polluted from America's industrial heyday. Perhaps we could funnel some of the profits that are being made by increasingly automated industry to an increased investment in education and environmental stewardship so that we don't become a wasteland?

To return to the original subject of my post, almost all jobs can be replaced by technology. Any job that follows a script (and does not write it) can be replaced.

Many decisionmakers are realizing, as jobs and investment go elsewhere, 'for eficiency's sake' that'inefficiency' is part of economic prosperity, but we should CHOOSE where we decide to make things more 'inefficient'. Right now workers in low wage, high profit countries are subsidizing obscenely high profits with their health, just like Americans did in the past. Is that right? Should it be allowed?

jobs

hey guys My milk still gets delivered in Glass from the local farm.

The dry cleaner does drop off and deliver it's called Zoots.

The Knife guy doesn't have a push cart he lives in the next town and drives a Sprinter..... seriously.

What is gone? How bout the buggy whip maker,

job

I was a fireman shoveling coal into a bin then it was fed into the boiler by a stoker....everything manual on the boiler...regulate feedwater,regulated dampers for draft manually,dump ashes....a low water bell and relief valve...engineer sat on his duff.....years ago lots of fireman on steam ships,stationary plants,and railroads..none today....

The hot Rivet guy, and the guy who caught them with a cup.

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P.C.

The Rivet PERSON. aka Rosie the riveter.

HaHaHa.

Merry Christmas, Mark !!

Devan

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Bring back the gift bottle

I want to resume an old tradition that died out as holiday parties and drunk driving laws became stricter (which I am all in favor of). I remember my Dad always got a few dozen bottles of his favorite booze around Christmas from vendors and associates. I'm not sure that practice still goes on these days but I'd like to be a 'delivery boy' next holiday season and bring a little Christmas 'cheer' to people (while getting paid to deliver of course). So, I'll propose bringing back the 'gift bottle delivery guy.'

Pin Setter

When I was a kid I used to set pins at the bowling alley to make enough to shoot pool. You had to be fast those drunks would use you for target practice.