Startups Upend Japan’s Famously Old-Fashioned Fish Market(wsj.com)
wsj.com
Startups Upend Japan’s Famously Old-Fashioned Fish Market
http://www.wsj.com/articles/startups-upend-japans-fish-market-1431682201
4 comments
I think that's the wrong thing to worry about. Buggy whip craftsman, whalers, lamplighters, and millions of defunct roles shouldn't be something we worry about. Progress shouldn't be stunted to give people jobs. Those people, often of low skill, need to either adapt and create their own innovations, or take equally dire positions of low skill. It sounds harsh, but your career is your responsibility, not someone else's problem. If you're doing something that can be automated, assume it will be.
I think we are on the crux of a time where automation is going to quickly replace more jobs than it creates; while it may not have been hard to transition a carriage maker into a factory worker in the early 1900's, I have strong doubts that replacement tasks will exist as the job pool potentially shrinks this time around. As well, you must remember that while many of the readers of HN are perhaps gifted, young individuals, there is a huge swath of society that is not capable of "adapting or creating innovations" on the time span needed to counter a movement like that. We can yell and patronize about how everyone needs to pick themselves up by their bootstraps, but the reality is usually only a select few people can actually do this, and usually only some fraction of the time. As a sort of consequence, all of this automation tends to concentrate the wealth, and when you have all of these people who are not capable of making a living in society any more, this creates huge societal problems.
I foresee a day coming that some or most software development becomes automated, only needing a very select few to make the machine continue to turn; it will be interesting to see what we all say then.
I foresee a day coming that some or most software development becomes automated, only needing a very select few to make the machine continue to turn; it will be interesting to see what we all say then.
The day developers aren't needed is the day we no longer need jobs.
I understand and I agree in some ways with what you say, dont stunt progress in the name of social stability because arguably new jobs will avail themselves to those who are willing to learn.
I don't know how long this trickling up will last. I would like to see a society which addressed the impact of progress differently and see how things turn out, so I'd like to see Japan take an alternative path we all might have something to learn from a different approach.
Moreover, I think society owes some responsibility to the individuals who contributed to the previous stage and make an effort to keep them employable in some way.
I don't know how long this trickling up will last. I would like to see a society which addressed the impact of progress differently and see how things turn out, so I'd like to see Japan take an alternative path we all might have something to learn from a different approach.
Moreover, I think society owes some responsibility to the individuals who contributed to the previous stage and make an effort to keep them employable in some way.
Taking your familiar conceit to its logical conclusion here, it makes me wonder whether the only jobs that ultimately won't be automated for all those people unequal to the daunting feats of adaptation or innovation expected of them are freedom fighter or terrorist.
Terminator 2 predicted both of those roles will be automated.
Well said
> I think about those nameless guys who stock those tchotchke dispensers in convenience stores. It's such a dreadful and unfulfilling job but it earns someone rent money.
If it eases your mind any, in most cases the person you see refilling the machine owns that and many other similar machines and is likely doing quite well for himself. Depending where you live he may also be an active member of organized crime as well!
If it eases your mind any, in most cases the person you see refilling the machine owns that and many other similar machines and is likely doing quite well for himself. Depending where you live he may also be an active member of organized crime as well!
I think you're right some are stocked by owners, but many are stocked by guys on scooters who work for the guy who owns those things, so both will be hit.
But getting back to the article, yes, Japan is rife with redundant and inefficient jobs, but it keeps the population working. Those guys directing people into garages, for example.
But getting back to the article, yes, Japan is rife with redundant and inefficient jobs, but it keeps the population working. Those guys directing people into garages, for example.
I was traveling through S India enjoying myself and met a guy from the UK who owns and stocks vending machines in a few pubs. He takes off every year for the past several decades around the winter holidays for a few months and has (what appeared to me) a fantastic time traveling around the world during the "slow season." It may not be as bad as you think.
It's the same story we have read over the last twenty years: One technologically-oriented intermediary replaces two or three traditional intermediaries with half the aggregate staff. The old guard laments the loss of small advantages coming from the old system that the market decides isn't worth the cost.
For what it's worth, Tsukiji is shutting down and relocating this November:
http://www.undercurrentnews.com/2014/12/31/tsukiji-market-re...
http://www.undercurrentnews.com/2014/12/31/tsukiji-market-re...
I thought, for a moment, the article was about startups moving into the Tsukiji area and threatening the fish market. Then I remembered that there's been talk about moving the fish market for years. I lived in Tokyo for 3 years and never woke up early enough to go see it—ate the fish, but never saw the market.
Click through from Google for the full text: https://www.google.com/search?q=Startups+Upend+Japan’s+Famou...
No need to click through anymore. Check this out, posted a few days ago, worth reiterating.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9531941
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9531941
The plugin has since been pulled from the store https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/wait-google-sent-m...
That link still doesn't work if you're using privacy protecting plugins.
I think I'll opt to not read the WSJ :)
I think I'll opt to not read the WSJ :)
That definitely has great potential --as much as Amazon. On the other hand, Japan is about balance and this throws a whole sector of the economy into disarray. The jobs are menial but do provide people with a living --what will these people do now that they can't make a living pushing faxes and making deliveries?
I think about those nameless guys who stock those tchotchke dispensers in convenience stores. It's such a dreadful and unfulfilling job but it earns someone rent money.