Could also be phrased "the rise of under-employment" rather than loss of skill. Hundreds of years ago my direct ancestors were making coo coo clocks in the black forest, and on paper that carpentry skillset is completely lost after a couple generations of job titles, although I am actually a modestly skilled wood butcher, I am beyond your average handyman or roofer or maybe even average rougher, but I am good enough to know I'm at least one step, maybe two, beneath the true masters of the craft. I might be a higher skilled carpenter than some of my less competent ancestors, despite it merely being a hobby.
As a close to the heart analogy, everyone here knows that if you graduated with a BSCS and didn't do the IT/accounting or the graphics arts/web design track then the student probably did the stereotypical academic track with all manner of highly skilled senior year classes like automata theory, compiler design, maybe some control theory (although thats more EE). I did well in those classes and like many (most?) people I'm highly underemployed. I would guess that well over half, maybe 90 percent, of my fellow students in automata class and compiler class are just doing CRUD web apps or mobile apps, which hardly require those skill levels / skill sets.
I'd be slightly interested in sociological commentary on societies where underemployment increases. Does it always increase infinitely, or crash after awhile, or just not matter much?
A better proxy for carpentry skill level of a society might be the total sales of tools and supplies. I think the total economic size of the "at least somewhat skilled woodworker" is larger today than in the olden days.
Another interesting aspect is expansion of titles. Everyone in a skilled craft no matter if its programming or carpentry knows some are more equal that others, in carpentry no matter if you all have the same job title, or hobby name, some guys can barely be trusted with material handling and rough carcasses while other guys can be trusted to trim the finest kitchen cabinets, despite all having the same title. And obvious IT/CS analogies.
As a close to the heart analogy, everyone here knows that if you graduated with a BSCS and didn't do the IT/accounting or the graphics arts/web design track then the student probably did the stereotypical academic track with all manner of highly skilled senior year classes like automata theory, compiler design, maybe some control theory (although thats more EE). I did well in those classes and like many (most?) people I'm highly underemployed. I would guess that well over half, maybe 90 percent, of my fellow students in automata class and compiler class are just doing CRUD web apps or mobile apps, which hardly require those skill levels / skill sets.
I'd be slightly interested in sociological commentary on societies where underemployment increases. Does it always increase infinitely, or crash after awhile, or just not matter much?
A better proxy for carpentry skill level of a society might be the total sales of tools and supplies. I think the total economic size of the "at least somewhat skilled woodworker" is larger today than in the olden days.
Another interesting aspect is expansion of titles. Everyone in a skilled craft no matter if its programming or carpentry knows some are more equal that others, in carpentry no matter if you all have the same job title, or hobby name, some guys can barely be trusted with material handling and rough carcasses while other guys can be trusted to trim the finest kitchen cabinets, despite all having the same title. And obvious IT/CS analogies.