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“You are trying to make an argument that was lost a long time ago. Good luck selling your lemon.”

Your missing his point. Robots make stuff. No one builds robots to make stuff unless there is someone to buy the stuff. If no one has a job and no one can afford to buy stuff then companies will not make it. There will be equilibrium. Most of the stuff we have in our homes was made, in part, by robots. 150 years ago they did not have robots... and they had less, and less complicated, stuff. So more robots = cheaper stuff = people have more stuff.

I am an engineer. I use a computer to get stuff done that would have taken longer by hand 80 years ago... but is there LESS demand for engineers? No. Ditto for lots and lots of industries. Someone made a device for bartenders to mix drinks faster... and bartenders still have jobs.

I am an engineer. I use a computer to get stuff done that would have taken longer by hand 80 years ago... but is there LESS demand for engineers? No.

No, but there is less demand for draftsmen. Human beings exist with a range of abilities and intelligent automation is beginning to surpass the ability of some (and soon many) of them to compete with a machine. The political pressures this will cause are nothing to sneeze at. We are approaching a time where decisions as to how wealth will be acquired by common men will need to be made. Working for it when many are unable to sell their labor is going to be a big problem. The "oh they're all just Luddites" attitude found around here is missing the point. Men with no legal way to exchange their labor for goods will find another way to acquire the goods they want. I think the occupational fields of pirate, brigand and highway man will be seeing an uptick soon.

Real nice post, aquila48. PING

Most of the stuff we have in our homes was made, in part, by robots. 150 years ago they did not have robots... and they had less, and less complicated, stuff. So more robots = cheaper stuff = people have more stuff.

Real nice, Talon.

Our minds think of robots as some futuristic thing -- walking/talking servants or the mass adoption of those huge robotic welding machines that help build cars.

But robots include smaller gadgets that allow work to be done faster. Even a small computer program that increased an individual worker's productivity is a mini-robot.

And so, looked on in that way, robots are already pervasive. They are merely hiding in Excel sheets, wine bottle openers -- automated gadgets on a large or small scale.

What do ya think?