Ag labour was replaced by the same fundamental change which made the factory work which replaced it viable: more energy per worker.
A farmer with a 15 - 30 HP Ford or John Deere tractor could do the work of a team of men or horses. Rather than 40-horse combine-harvester rigs (with swingletrees to transmit force evenly through the harness), you had a draw-harvester and PTO off the tractor.
Factory productivity tracks virtually linearly with kW or HP per worker, in the form of power tools and equipment.
Humans were the control elements of such systems.
Now we're swapping out the control elements -- computers for people.
If humans don't have either muscle or brainpower to contribute, what's left?
> don't have either muscle or brainpower to contribute, what's left?
I want to see a future where most people are hyper specialists, doing one niche thing for almost the entire world.
also, I want to see more people be capital owners where they make decisions for their own business rather than work for someone else. robots may replace humans, but can they replace being a business owner?
A farmer with a 15 - 30 HP Ford or John Deere tractor could do the work of a team of men or horses. Rather than 40-horse combine-harvester rigs (with swingletrees to transmit force evenly through the harness), you had a draw-harvester and PTO off the tractor.
Factory productivity tracks virtually linearly with kW or HP per worker, in the form of power tools and equipment.
Humans were the control elements of such systems.
Now we're swapping out the control elements -- computers for people.
If humans don't have either muscle or brainpower to contribute, what's left?