Posted on 08/11/2025 12:52:03 PM PDT by RandFan
White-collar layoffs make headlines while tradesmen name their price. If your sink explodes at 3 a.m., ChatGPT can’t fix it. But that’s just the start. What comes next moves in slow, silent steps. It’s harder to notice, harder to fight.
Even the skilled trades, once thought untouchable, won’t be immune for long. That’s because, in the age of AI, no collar is safe forever, no matter how dirty or clean. In other words, a blue-collar bloodbath is inevitable.
For now, trades thrive because machines still fumble with fine motor skills. Plumbers, welders, electricians — these are jobs that demand real dexterity. They require quick thinking and the kind of judgment you can’t automate. It’s one thing to answer questions in a chat window. It’s another to crawl under a leaking floorboard and rewire a breaker box while water drips on your neck. Even the flashiest robot arm isn’t replacing that anytime soon.
But the key phrase is “anytime soon,” not never.
That’s what keeps getting lost in the blue-collar victory lap. Yes, carpenters and plasterers are in demand. Yes, robots still fumble with chaos and fine detail. But AI doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t stall. And most importantly, it doesn’t peak. It doesn’t just take jobs — it studies them, watches, learns, and improves — quietly, constantly.
We’re long past the clunky prototypes. Boston Dynamics’ robot dogs patrol warehouses and climb stairs with military grace. Machines are already pouring slabs, laying bricks, finishing drywall with machine-shop precision. Robotic arms thread needles, fold laundry and perform surgery with steady, unshakable hands.
These aren’t novelties. They’re blueprints for who’s coming next.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Decades and decades away. Well After I am dead and gone, and probably after my kids are gone too.
There’s zero chance a robot will be digging into things and figuring out what’s wrong with plumbing, and electrical circuits. No way it could figure out how to properly frame something if it’s a little off.
Blue collar skilled work is safe for a long, long time.
Nope, aluminum batteries, or some other tech that hasn’t yet been invented.
It railroads when it’s railroad time.
It is also likely those will return post-collapse.
Pure wishful thinking.
AI hallucinates about 1/3 of the time.
When dealing with mechanical items, that can be fatal.
DS9 was my favorite Star Trek series, with Enterprise a close second.
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