Posted on 07/28/2019 4:20:26 AM PDT by C19fan
In June, thousands of dockworkers marched at the Port of Los Angeles against the coming introduction of robotic machines threatening their jobs. And they are not alone in fearing automation. According to a recent Pew Research survey, a staggering 85% of Americans support policies to restrict the rise of robots. We even have a presidential candidate in Andrew Yang running to protect jobs from automation. Economists tend to dismiss anti-technology sentiment as backwards and Luddite. But they miss an important point. As I argue in my new book, The Technology Trap, The Luddites, who smashed machinery during the Industrial Revolution, were right to fight back. Much like today's factory workers, they weren't going to benefit from new technology.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
One thing robotics WILL do, is negate much of the advantage of having Third World people to work in your sweatshops.
China is very concerned, hence this CNN story.
Science fiction movies aren’t science fiction...they’re roadmaps. Think “I, Robot”.
I read this article, it was an attack on Trump for using tariffs. The article pretends that the reason for the opioid crisis was because of robots instead of that lovely healthcare law. It also fails to address reality on the job losses due to propping up the developing world.
“The Luddites, who smashed machinery during the Industrial Revolution, were right to fight back. Much like today’s factory workers, they weren’t going to benefit from new technology.”
Fast forward a few years and the craftsmen who hand-darned socks while living in hovels with nothing in the way of amenities had taken jobs maintaining and feeding the sock machines. They lived in houses with chamber pots, owned machine made cutlery and tea pots, from which they could pour the newest drink, tea. Yes, there was a huge disruption from the “comfortable” status quo. But that disruption drove even more change. People immigrated to get a better life. People took jobs that stretched their minds and improved their living standards. It wasn’t all roses, by all means.
Make no mistake, striking dock workers are trying to keep things the way they were to maintain socialist benefits like free health care and defined benefit pensions, both of which have already disappeared for most of us. They are, because of their contracts, hugely overpaid and that is driving innovation and AI to replace them just like the threat of $15/hour minimum wages drove the development of the automated McDonald’s.
Automation is one reason why America should stop immigration by unskilled, illiterate people. They already have limited chances for success and mostly become a burden on the public charge. America needs innovation to keep ahead of the other world’s powers, like China. America is currently at full employment but as innovation and automation take effect workers at the bottom must either learn new skills or give up. Whether they adapt or not will be a function of their inherent IQ. (Among other factors.)
It is hard to measure how difficult life was *before* the industrial revolution. That is what is often missed.
One big difference was the price of cloth. The price of clothing yourself dropped significantly.
Too many regulations make humans too expensive to hire vs advancing technology.
Here at the local Walmart, they put in about 24 self-serve cash registers. My daughter, who’s a registrar there, might get moved. However, even the self-serve need attendants to help some of the customers, verify your age if you buy alcohol, etc.
“However, even the self-serve need attendants to help some of the customers, verify your age if you buy alcohol, etc.”
Where once there had been 24 attendants, now there might be only two.
I am looking forward to fully automated fast food outlets. No attitude, no contaminating food because they want to demonstrate their hatred of another group that day and no missed parts of the order. Machines really are better.
The automated McDonalds at the moment is just the placing of the order and the payment. I like the automation. It gives me a look at the entire menu and I do not have to wait in line to place the order. Speedier it is.
Think “I, Robot”.
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Without the 3 laws, “I, Robot” becomes ‘Terminator”.
Correct. But they could be paid more than the average cashier. I am not against automation at all. They still have cashiers, mainly for the folks who don’t like self-serve. Because I was a bagboy in high school 40 years ago, I prefer self serve.
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
The 3 laws was Azimov’s dream. We don’t know the reality …yet.
It may be closer than we think. Now I must go to my protected job…in the buggy whip factory.
America is going to need some form of UBI (Universal Basic Income) to keep the peace in our streets and neighborhoods.
This time, it really is different.
Robots and AI software are now reaching into every business in America.
They are going take many, many more jobs than they will create.
I have had repeated conversations with my 3 sons on this issue. I actually think the universal basic income will be ushered in because of the technical disruption of AI and robotics.
The real issue is what do you do with the people that lose their jobs over this? I don’t think those jobs will be replaced. I think in the long run, the deal will be “if you get sterilized, you get to have UBI and free medical care, and oh btw, you get basic entertainment (phone, Internet, etc), but you have to be sterilized”.
The great divide will be between those who have jobs and those who don’t. And many of those who do have jobs won’t be much better off than the jobless. Think “Soylent Green”.
“The real issue is what do you do with the people that lose their jobs over this?”
I see help wanted signs everywhere, on the backs of trucks, on the road side in front of businesses, and in store front windows. Granted, this may be temporary. The last time I saw signs like this was in the late sixties. What has changed? I read an article about Trump’s stealth revolution. He has removed not two regulations for one, but 13 for one. He just cancelled a regulation that cost 1% of the entire GDP to implement and enforce. One of the reasons jobs are disappearing isn’t that we don’t need the workers, it’s because they were regulated out of existence. Get rid of the economic drogue chute called over-regulation and we will handily absorb the coming changes introduced by AI and automation. (Oh, and we need to reform education away from political indoctrination and back into something that helps the student adjust to the new world’s economy.)
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