Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What happens to society when robots replace workers?
Harvard Business Review.com ^ | December 10, 2014 | William Davidow & Michael S. Malone

Posted on 12/10/2014 1:05:31 PM PST by giant sable

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last
The rise of the Zero Economic Value (ZEV) Citizen?
1 posted on 12/10/2014 1:05:32 PM PST by giant sable
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: giant sable

Beaches more crowded during the week?


2 posted on 12/10/2014 1:07:13 PM PST by PapaNew (The grace of God & freedom always win the debate in the forum of ideas over unjust law & government)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

WALL-E


3 posted on 12/10/2014 1:08:45 PM PST by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable
What happens to society when robots replace workers?


4 posted on 12/10/2014 1:08:48 PM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

we already have them in abundance


5 posted on 12/10/2014 1:10:09 PM PST by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

What’s that saying about “Idle hands”?


6 posted on 12/10/2014 1:10:47 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

You get a ton of robot repairmen.


7 posted on 12/10/2014 1:11:59 PM PST by Doomonyou (Let them eat Lead.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

Kurt Vonnegut covered this question back in 1952.

https://bibliophilica.wordpress.com/2011/01/01/player-piano-by-kurt-vonnegut/


8 posted on 12/10/2014 1:12:11 PM PST by Busywhiskers ("Once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy" -Dan Gable)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Doomonyou

What happens when robots repair the robots?


9 posted on 12/10/2014 1:12:27 PM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: giant sable
The baby police will be formed and empowered

I mean ... there's nothing ELSE to do, right ?

10 posted on 12/10/2014 1:15:23 PM PST by knarf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable; dfwgator; BenLurkin
Terminator 2
11 posted on 12/10/2014 1:15:52 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

“What happens when robots repair the robots?”

See the movie “Silent Running”.


12 posted on 12/10/2014 1:17:50 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: giant sable
"...at the risk of creating millions of citizens who are simply unable to contribute economically"

This is a potential dream come true for liberals. They will be writing laws that require employers to contribute a "substitute wage" for every robotic task performed in their businesses. That substitute wage will go into a pool separate from social security and be used to subsidize and support people who have no avenues of employment. These people, in return will be regressed to being supported to the tune of about $8 an hour - right where they are now, except they won't have to work.

The result will be a similar battle to what we see no except that instead of demanding a higher wage for working, they will demand higher support. The dems will gain greater control over a bigger class of perpetually poor people.

(I'm not an economist, but I play one on the interweb)

13 posted on 12/10/2014 1:18:29 PM PST by Baynative (Did you ever notice that atheists don't dare sue Muslims?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Which brings to mind the bigger societal problem of when robots replace women...

We’re already seeing some of the societal defects caused by internet porn.


14 posted on 12/10/2014 1:20:45 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

For some folks, “Zero Economic Value” would be a step up.


15 posted on 12/10/2014 1:21:19 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.


16 posted on 12/10/2014 1:24:56 PM PST by pabianice (LINE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: giant sable

They start getting all bent out of shape by the influx of illegal Mexican robots?


17 posted on 12/10/2014 1:26:09 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MrB

“Which brings to mind the bigger societal problem of when robots replace women”

They’re working on it in Japan as young men and women are becoming estranged from each other and as the birth rate sinks below the replacement level:

https://www.google.com/search?q=japan+lifelike+female&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=Palemoon:en-US&client=palemoon#rls=Palemoon:en-US&q=japan+lifelike+female+dolls

https://www.google.com/search?q=japan+lifelike+female&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=Palemoon:en-US&client=palemoon


18 posted on 12/10/2014 1:26:55 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


19 posted on 12/10/2014 1:29:20 PM PST by dsrtsage (One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%i)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Baynative

That is indeed the likely scenario. However, I’m curious what your alternative is for a future where there is zero economic demand for the contributions most people are capable of making to the economy.

This is likely to be a society where enormous amounts of “stuff” is produced with very little human input.

Do those few people who are still productive obtain automatic title to everything that is produced?

Is there any way to prevent this without shutting down innovation, which would of course require a totalitarian system?

I’m a huge fan of the free market, which has had a darn good run of several centuries. But it’s perhaps best known for its ability at “creative destruction.”

I’m beginning to suspect that its last act of creative destruction will be self-destruction.


20 posted on 12/10/2014 1:30:52 PM PST by Sherman Logan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-44 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson