re: Blocks (parent company of Square & Cash App) lays off nearly 50% of workforce due to AI

Have you even looked at Square’s financials? I’ll make it as simple as possible why they are doing this:

2021- 17.66 Billion Rev
2021- 2.60 Billion SGA (basically workers)
Stock price ($289 peak)

2025- 24.19 Billion Rev
2025- 4.27 Billion SGA
Stock Price- $55

When you hire that many people but the revenue doesn’t go up much, you gotta get rid of them. They aren’t being replaced by AI they simply weren’t needed in the first place.

When Facebook was in the tank at $95 late in 2022 Zuck did the same thing. He slashed headcount. AI wasn’t replacing those people. They were never needed in the first place,

AI isn’t replacing useless people (lot of middle manager types). The useless people are simply being let go bc the cost to employ them isn’t worth what they do

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Oh, and there is a lot more going on here than just AI.

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Yep. Half of those cut will be actually replaced by AI; the other half will be replaced by Indians.

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Meanwhile I’m sitting pretty moving furniture for wealthy folks

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Robots coming for you baw.

Bingo. Anyone with a basic understanding of economics could’ve predicted this. The “plug it in and turn it on” crowd doesn’t know anything about AI adoption

Imagine a future where nobody has a job or income to use Cash App

Jack Dorsey been running into the ground with all his silly crypto web 3 nonsense.

I remember when he invested all that money in Web 5.0

Majority of people are still in denial about the massive job loss AI is going to create. And it’s not 20 years away either, it’s coming soon. Actually, it’s already started.

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Company bloat has nothing to do with DEI

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DEI is company bloat. Tons of positions were created to satisfy ESG goals. Tons. Everyone knows why these people were hired, and everyone avoids dealing with them at all costs. And when they are forced to interact with them, they screw things up to the point, that efficiency nosedives, and not a single manager will step in to clean it up

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In the 1970s, the worldwide abhorrence of the apartheid regime in South Africa led to one of the most renowned examples of selective disinvestment along ethical lines. As a response to a growing call for sanctions against the regime

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The beginning of ESG

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In the 1960s and 1970s, the economist Milton Friedman, in response to the prevailing mood of philanthropy, argued that social responsibility adversely affects a firm's financial performance and that regulation and interference from "big government" will always damage the macro economy. His contention that the valuation of a company or asset should be predicated almost exclusively on the financial bottom line.

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Environmental
Social: Data is reported on employee safety and health, working conditions, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and conflicts and humanitarian crises, and is relevant in risk and return assessments directly through results in enhancing (or destroying) customer and employee engagement.
Governance

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some of you are very out of touch about the nexus that's been crossed recently and what's coming in the next 5 years. There's a reason that they're building AI data centers like hotcakes. Entire departments of companies will be laid off, save a few lucky individuals who will be tasked with oversight of the agentic AI output.

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If what you’re saying is true, then shouldn’t we genuinely be resisting the building of this infrastructure to the point of physically destroying it?

FWIW while I do think all but certain applications like medical research should be abandoned, I think AGI is impossible and this is going to be a huge wasteful stupid bubble.