As our country, it seems like innovation is a core part of our goal. We want to advance technology and understanding. To build faster machines, more efficient machines, and, one can hope, more sustainable machines.
But innovation is hard. Not only because of the education and cost that goes into creating the innovation, but because of the human cost associated.
Manufacturing is out, the tech sector is in. Old tech is out, new tech is in.
If you can't keep up, that's your problem - you should just retrain for another job. Assuming you have the option to retrain. And assuming you can find someone to hire you if you're over 50 and spent your whole career working in a now dead sector of society.
So good luck with that.
As we rethought a Constitution in class yesterday - ours, incidentally, put human well-being at the center - I couldn't help but wonder if there was a better way.
Could we as a society support innovation by providing for people who are innovated right out of work?
I don't know. But it would be interesting to map out how that would work.
I think of it as something of a Social Security system, but I'm not sure if the today's workers pay for today's retirees would work.
I also wonder what sort of regulations would be in place to moderate who benefits. Would you get support if you lost your job at any point over a certain age? Or only if you'd been working a specific, recently downsized industry?
Just some questions to ponder on this ridiculously hot day. Give me a shout if you have any solutions.
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