Tech often does this, it takes a thing, deskills 95% of it, and puts the people who can do the missing 5% in a horrible situation where they can't make enough money to live. Instead they see other people making more than them by half-assing their profession.
I was a Carpenter and Joiner. Crappy gangs with nail guns and battery saws could compete with me on some of my work, leaving too little of the skilled stuff to make a living. CNC stair builders churned out a demonstrably worse but cheaper version of what my workshop made. My Dad, long past retirement age, is still living on the crumbs these kids leave behind. When he dies there will be none left in our old patch that can do some of the old skills, like traditional roofing (where prefab trussed rafters can't be used).
I am not 100% clear that this is a better world.
I use the tube in London, but black cabs are still the premium service.
> CNC stair builders churned out a demonstrably worse but cheaper version of what my workshop made.
That sounds like is is better by the standards the customer cares about. The trick, I think, is realizing when your goals and those of your customer diverge.
I think a more subtle, and perhaps salient, question is how many people not trying to sell something understand what's important? It's very easy to mistrust the motives of someone trying to do customer education.
You're right. It's obvious that price isn't the only signal. But perhaps it's more readily comprehensible in many cases, especially when other signals are potentially less trustworthy.
I was a Carpenter and Joiner. Crappy gangs with nail guns and battery saws could compete with me on some of my work, leaving too little of the skilled stuff to make a living. CNC stair builders churned out a demonstrably worse but cheaper version of what my workshop made. My Dad, long past retirement age, is still living on the crumbs these kids leave behind. When he dies there will be none left in our old patch that can do some of the old skills, like traditional roofing (where prefab trussed rafters can't be used).
I am not 100% clear that this is a better world.
I use the tube in London, but black cabs are still the premium service.