When automation replaced (some) manual labor there was employee flight to so-called white collar jobs (of which many were, and still are of dubious value). Now that the previously exclusive domain of humans, "thinking" (even if limited) is being performed by machines, there's nowhere left to go for us sentient meatbags mostly made of water. Unless people 'create their own jobs', and not many have the ability to do that.

...headlosses would require multiple pumping stations...

Nah. Just angle the pipe downwards towards LA. Probably the water will be coming from the north, and north is up on the map, so gravity will do the job - no pumps required.

Hey, close the barn door willya! The horses have left!

How much water does it take to grow a single human?

"Compensation has been commensurate to your skills for hundreds of years. It may suck for the unskilled, but that's what works."

More and more skills, knowledge and ability is being built into software (e.g., multiple subject matter experts consult with developer for new software release which ends up quite good but inflexible). This reduces/eliminates the need for entry-level tasks, so it becomes more difficult to enter the field. Eventually an advanced degree will be required just to click buttons.

Good one!

Where do I sign up for your Church of the Big Titties? I'm presuming I don't have to actually have any in order to join, but maybe my moobs will do if they are required.,

...there's a crapton of accumulated skills and techniques - mostly forgotten to the bulk of civilization - involved in building things...

And there are very many "professionals" "working" today who would be completely lost without computers - task automation covers up a LOT of incompetence and encourages fraudulent claims of capabilities.

Great post. The doom and gloom from the no-hopers must continue, if only to discourage the general populations' awareness of the parasitism problem mentioned further above in the comments.

It's aliens and climate change.

California using that much less per capita than NZ or Canada (1200 vs. 245?) makes no sense.

In these days of ever-increasing volumes of information being thrown about it's important to be clear and unambiguous in the first few sentences of writing. I, for one, don't have the time to not not figure out the negative-reverse implications of failing to undisclose previously inversely unhidden assertions. Not.

Because you're easier to control and tax when you're scared. And it doesn't have to be you that's scared, just some vague anyperson somewhere (preferably a journalist, who can pretend to be scared for everyone else) on whose behalf the parasites will act.

Yeah, more scaremongering to keep the government grants flowing so they can continue running GIGO models.

I think I'm going to click that "Share" link at the bottom of your post - hey! Facebook's there!

On second thought, maybe I shouldn't.