I'm not really sure - I wish somebody would answer this question.
I initially read 'won't the intellectual jobs continue to be automated away?' and thought to myself, yeah, probably :) haha.
Which boils down to no matter what line of work - my hunch is that a lot of it is frivolous.
I heard somewhere that scientists came up with a solution to diabetes but since maintaining it is such a huge industry - they're going to keep things as is.
Of course that's likely a fictional story but I think the basic gist of it applies - we can absoluuutely optimize the current workforce to reduce oh I don't know, at least 10-20% of it just by giving some smart folks that goal right?
How many folks past 50 who don't like what they do are just sitting there collecting maximum salary while contributing less than a 30 year old if not STIFLING potential progress? I bet the answer is A LOT.
What if we gave them the option to earn 1/2 what they make right now, asked them to only come in to work 15-20 hours/week?
What is a 55 year old dude spending maximum salary on, honestly? Golf?
Thinking about it a little bit more - shortening the life-cycle for positions like teaching or managing in fields that move fast given the above proposition would not only be smart, but likely the move of the future.
By the time you're in your 50s, you're tired and likely out of touch. Give that space up for somebody young and curious while maintaining a decent standard of living. I bet my dad would take that deal in a heartbeat.
I don't know if you meant for your comment to sound as ageist as it does, but it could really do without that last sentence. The 'golf' quip as well. Sure, some 50 year olds might be tired and out of touch. The same could be said about people of any age. Also, being 50 does NOT preclude curiosity.
Your 'earn 1/2 of what they make right now' option would be nice, if it were actually feasible. It doesn't take into account the rising base cost of living everywhere. Forget giving up a 'luxurious lifestyle' -- I'm talking about the base cost of living for living in a modest apartment, that's close enough for you to be able to visit your family and friends.
So no, I think many 'old dudes' (oh and newsflash - 55 isn't exactly old these days) are spending their money not on 'golf' but on their own mortgage, possibly helping their kids with their mortgages', their medical expenses, their food, etc.
I think you're disagreeing with a couple of things here:
1. 50+ year olds are just as good as 30 year olds aka 'ageism'
2. Making 1/2 pay would not be enough to live comfortably
I don't know if I even need to argue the first one. If you take sports, it's a no brainer.
If you look at the physical shape programmers are in at 55, that alone hinders their productivity somewhat. Sure, there's outliers here and there, I am talking most people. If you honestly think an average 55 year old programmer is not significantly less valuable than an average 30 year old programmer TODAY, I don't know. I'd need to know why.
What other areas of life are 55 year olds more valuable than 30 year olds? I'd say they're more likely to be a bit more level headed and having had more experience, can avoid some common pitfalls a 30 year old might fall into.
That's exactly why they should be occasionally mentoring 30 year olds, not competing with them. I just don't think 55 year olds have the stamina/energy to keep up, it's as simple as that. I'd need proof of them having equal stamina and not significantly worse health and I just don't see how that can be possible. Experience can't offset 25 years of stress, you are likely beat up!
Now on to the second point - if you make 100k/year and you live in Toronto (where I live), you can live on 50k. That's if you're the sole provider you can live on 50k. If your wife worked and you were making let's say 200k combined or 175k whatever - and you don't have stacks of money saved up - I don't know what the hell you've been doing!
I was suggesting half-pay half-hours to people who are around 100k salary - which's what teachers, programmers, nurses, on and on make in Toronto, Canada. I know for a fact you can live on 50k, I am living on less than that and I have a mortgage, so...
In my particular case, every workplace I've worked in over the years has had a huge range of ages for software engineers. Without asking people you'd be hard pressed to know how old they were. The performance of the older engineers seemed about the same on average as their younger ones. There were some stellar and curious engineers, just as there were the disinterested ones. The same applied to both groups.
So I think saying something like "The average X year old engineer is worse than the average Y engineer" isn't useful. What's your sample size for that average?
Agree with you on the half-pay/half-hours thing. I actually would love to see less traditional reliance on 'seat time' and more flexible working conditions all around.
I initially read 'won't the intellectual jobs continue to be automated away?' and thought to myself, yeah, probably :) haha.
Which boils down to no matter what line of work - my hunch is that a lot of it is frivolous.
I heard somewhere that scientists came up with a solution to diabetes but since maintaining it is such a huge industry - they're going to keep things as is.
Of course that's likely a fictional story but I think the basic gist of it applies - we can absoluuutely optimize the current workforce to reduce oh I don't know, at least 10-20% of it just by giving some smart folks that goal right?
How many folks past 50 who don't like what they do are just sitting there collecting maximum salary while contributing less than a 30 year old if not STIFLING potential progress? I bet the answer is A LOT.
What if we gave them the option to earn 1/2 what they make right now, asked them to only come in to work 15-20 hours/week?
What is a 55 year old dude spending maximum salary on, honestly? Golf?
Thinking about it a little bit more - shortening the life-cycle for positions like teaching or managing in fields that move fast given the above proposition would not only be smart, but likely the move of the future.
By the time you're in your 50s, you're tired and likely out of touch. Give that space up for somebody young and curious while maintaining a decent standard of living. I bet my dad would take that deal in a heartbeat.