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1. hector+(OP)[view] [source] 2022-12-16 09:31:06
That is true: that's why certain industries endure more mistreatment than others (acting, fashion, design in general). Passion can be a pain in the ass when it gets in the way of just making a living.

However, these are individual reactions, not behaviours as a community/society. If you read comments around HN or some other liberal circles, you have the feeling that is our human-ness is being threatened, one of our core defining traits. It seems like "artistic creativity" is being enshrined as a circular argument (also I'm wary of calling startup-landing-page illustrators "artists" – more like craftpeople, although this distinction might hurt the conversation).

My broader point is that ChatGPT is not "the beginning of the end", but another chapter in a history of automation and replacement that will pose serious challenges for humankind. That treating it as more critical than factory automation is demeaning to blue-collar workers and also untrue. Everything we do is what defines us as people: cherry-picking some skills is a relic from Enlightenment we should get rid of.

> Also I'm not sure most artist jobs are middle-upper class.

I do not have any data at hand, only my circle of friends and former colleagues (I was formerly a graphic designer). Few people endure being a "starving artist" without a little financial safety coming from above. Also, it is a profession that only provides status to a certain socio-economic milieu.

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