...when they take hold of their own destiny. Make something or provide a service at a price people are willing to pay. Really, isn't every would-be founder in the same place? No way to eat unless they can get someone (YC, VC and ultimately customer)to pay them?
Sure, with some skill that can be monetized. I don't have statistics, but I would be willing to bet that not many farmers have CS backgrounds (or other backgrounds that can be monetized easily).
I'm not against progress, but I think statements like this ignore the difficulty involved. Even for someone who does "take hold of their own destiny" they may well need to through retraining, etc...
Using the farmers as an example, how would you suggest a 45 year old farmer do (for the sake of argument, assume he/she needs to support a kid or two) when his/her job gets automated away?
What should the farmer do? Deal with this crazy thing called life. No one said it was fair. Perhaps he could have seen the end coming and starting moving towards gaining new skills. Perhaps it really blind-sided him and now he's screwed working two jobs for a fraction of his original income.
In any event, life is a bitch. Jobs become obsolete. Yes it is easy to say this while I currently have a comfortable life with job and family, but don't think for a second that I haven't considered what would happen if something tragic happened.
I'm so sick of people complaining about life's hard knocks and how they can't deal with them. Some people will get screwed. They don't have the mental capacity and/or work ethic to deal with the problem and they get left behind. Other people adapt. They start over if they have to. They get new much lower paying jobs and adjust their budget. They downgrade their living arrangements. They get government assistance. What they don't do is give up.
