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Rise of the machines: Study sees robots cutting labor costs 16 pct. (truncated)
Fox News ^ | 02.09.2015 | AP via Fox News

Posted on 02/10/2015 8:52:06 AM PST by dware

WASHINGTON – Cheaper, better robots will replace human workers in the world's factories at a faster pace over the next decade, pushing labor costs down 16 percent, a report Tuesday said.

The Boston Consulting Group predicts that investment in industrial robots will grow 10 percent a year in the world's 25-biggest export nations through 2025, up from 2 percent to 3 percent a year now. The investment will pay off in lower costs and increased efficiency.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: minimumwage; robots
10 years ago, when I was teaching Net+ / A+ Certification and general computer classes, I used to tell my students that, at some point, one wouldn't even be able to get a job digging ditches, unless they knew how to run the computers that would run the ditch digging robots. Welcome to the future!
1 posted on 02/10/2015 8:52:06 AM PST by dware
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To: dware
John Henry, where are you?

Dirty, Dangerous and Minimum Wage Jobs hardest hit.

2 posted on 02/10/2015 8:56:22 AM PST by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
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To: dware

$15/hour


3 posted on 02/10/2015 9:00:17 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: dware

Here’s The Burger-Flipping Robot That Could Put Fast-Food Workers Out Of A Job
http://www.businessinsider.com/momentum-machines-burger-robot-2014-8


4 posted on 02/10/2015 9:07:08 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney
Sign in robot shop:

All burger-flipping robots must wash hands after every oil change.

5 posted on 02/10/2015 9:09:35 AM PST by N. Theknow (Kennedys-Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat-But they know what's best for you.)
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To: dware

The “raise the minimum wage” folks only have themselves to blame.


6 posted on 02/10/2015 10:16:05 AM PST by Marko413
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To: dware

Conservatives who think every consideration necessary is only about “capitalism” are refusing to admit that we are in a point of creative destruction not seen in previous “industrial revolutions”, which is the destruction of jobs by technology advancement is now greater than how many new jobs it is creating, directly and indirectly combined. It would be fine if the population was in a free fall decline, but it’s not.


7 posted on 02/10/2015 10:17:44 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Wuli

Such claims were made with the invention of the harvesting combine and the cotton gin.


8 posted on 02/10/2015 10:32:05 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Wuli

You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Every jump in tech lowers the amount of work necessary to keep society at a certain comfort level (generally higher than previous). Yes this wave will probably be very destructive to jobs, but that can be a good thing if we figure out how to work with it. It really depends on how we adjust to the concept of quite simply not needing the majority of people to do any kind of work.


9 posted on 02/10/2015 10:35:07 AM PST by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: discostu

“It really depends on how we adjust to the concept of quite simply not needing the majority of people to do any kind of work.”

Enforced sloth does not a civil human society make, unless the society you envision is, in time, the one the lead character in H.G.Wells ‘Time Machine’ finds at the last point in history he reaches.


10 posted on 02/11/2015 11:20:52 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Wuli

Who says anything about enforced sloth? A lot of art and science happens because people need to put less work into staying alive. We don’t HAVE to become slothful with extra time on our hands. We could become a society of the bored and boring marking time until death. Or we could become a society of creators and artists finding new frontiers to push. The choice is ours.


11 posted on 02/11/2015 11:23:31 AM PST by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: thackney

“Such claims were made with the invention of the harvesting combine and the cotton gin.”

Both were part of a larger industrial revolution, not isolated things unrelated to that, and the creative destruction of some jobs in that revolution was less than the new kinds of jobs it helped create, which is not the case in this era’s information technology revolution.


12 posted on 02/11/2015 11:24:51 AM PST by Wuli
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To: discostu

Who pays the otherwise bored individuals to pursue some scientific question (another area where big-data, analytical computer programs and their small number of programmers are taking over), or create some art, and why? The glorious “we do”, so that’s by taxes, and where does our income for those taxes come from? Everyone is on the dole?


13 posted on 02/11/2015 11:31:30 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Wuli

That’s the big question we need to figure out. In a world where we quite simply don’t need people to have jobs how do we keep people alive and useful? Maybe everybody is on the dole. Or maybe thanks to 3D printers and automation it doesn’t matter. Don’t know. It’s an interesting world we’re entering. Could go many ways. But again, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle so pissing and moaning and whining about it ain’t gonna fix nothing. This IS where the world is going, figure out how to make it not suck.


14 posted on 02/11/2015 11:35:27 AM PST by discostu (The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun)
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To: Wuli

the creative destruction of some jobs in that revolution was less than the new kinds of jobs it helped create, which is not the case in this era’s information technology revolution.

- - - - - -

That is the part where you are mistaken. Just like all the similar claims made in this line for dozens of decades.


15 posted on 02/11/2015 11:56:57 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

“That is the part where you are mistaken. Just like all the similar claims made in this line for dozens of decades.”

The charge sounds the same, but in fact the circumstances are not the same, and the structural shift is not the net jobs creator that previous eras of “change” produced.


16 posted on 02/12/2015 11:56:20 AM PST by Wuli
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To: Wuli

We don’t agree. It is not limited to those two examples but decades of technological improvements producing products for less labor, or “better” products for the same labor.

Cheers.


17 posted on 02/12/2015 11:59:32 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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