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Why so nervous about robots, Wal-Mart?
CNET ^ | 07/11/2005 | Alorie Gilbert

Posted on 07/11/2005 2:36:13 PM PDT by devane617

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UGH! How much worse can WMT get.
1 posted on 07/11/2005 2:36:16 PM PDT by devane617
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To: devane617

This is classic - first, the hippylibs whine about how horrible Wal-Mart is to it's employees and what terrible jobs they provide. Then when robots start replacing those jobs, they whine about the "valuable" jobs going away. Pathetic. I'm already checking myself out at Wal-Mart with the self checkout line and I love it.


2 posted on 07/11/2005 2:42:16 PM PDT by ghost of nixon
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To: devane617
Oh dear. Oh dear. I can't believe how unspeakably evil WMT is.

Woe is me.

There should be a new law banning American companies from any further technological advancement.

3 posted on 07/11/2005 2:43:01 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: devane617

WalMart is great and this is exactly why I love them. All the political BS that WalMart is facing right now can be viewed as being, in fact, investment capital for the development of automation technology. One day soon, they will replace every single worker with an RFID scanner. And the communist liberal wackos will be fuming mad, but won't be able to do anything. Absolutely freaking wonderful.


4 posted on 07/11/2005 2:43:23 PM PDT by billybudd
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To: ghost of nixon
I'm already checking myself out at Wal-Mart with the self checkout line and I love it.

It is pretty cool.

5 posted on 07/11/2005 2:43:43 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: devane617
What, exactly, in this story do you see as something Wal Mart is doing wrong? There are reasons not to like Wal Mart, but I don't see anything in here that is new.


Scared Bunny Blog
Not for the easily offended

6 posted on 07/11/2005 2:44:21 PM PDT by sharktrager (My life is like a box of chocolates, but someone took all the good ones.)
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Almost everything that the left hates, I'll endorse.

Almost everything.


7 posted on 07/11/2005 2:46:41 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: wideawake

Until ya get stuck behind someone who shouldn't be in that lane. Always happens to me.


8 posted on 07/11/2005 2:47:28 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: ghost of nixon
I'm already checking myself out at Wal-Mart with the self checkout line and I love it.

We don’t have a Wal-Mart handy, but I LOVE the self-checkout lines.

Just goes to show you how valuable those stand-and-scan jobs are, no?

When I can walk through the door with absolutely NO training and NO experience and do it myself in 1/10 the time without having to interact with a surly employee… I call that “Progress” – but that’s just me.

9 posted on 07/11/2005 2:47:47 PM PDT by Who dat?
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To: RandallFlagg
Until ya get stuck behind someone who shouldn't be in that lane. Always happens to me.

LOL!

If I get on a normal line, the problem is a surly customer who insists on an expired coupon being honored or some such, resulting in a manager being called, etc.

10 posted on 07/11/2005 2:49:55 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: devane617

Marx was just a couple hundred years early.. Eventually physical labor will be phased out and a form of communism installed.


11 posted on 07/11/2005 2:50:57 PM PDT by G32
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To: G32
Marx was just a couple hundred years early.. Eventually physical labor will be phased out and a form of communism installed.

?!?!?

The opponents of automation are the socialists. Marx could never have envisioned such progress.

12 posted on 07/11/2005 2:52:59 PM PDT by wideawake (God bless our brave troops and their Commander in Chief)
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To: G32

"Marx was just a couple hundred years early.. Eventually physical labor will be phased out and a form of communism installed."

Once star trek replicators are installed then communism here we come.

It would be interesting to see how society would change when we get to the point of putting sheep (or sheep DNA) in a machine and getting Jeans and mutton out of the other. Obviously all those factory workers/stockers/etc need to do *something* but what? if we want to ramp up the technical capacity of society we need to start with the "education system"


13 posted on 07/11/2005 2:55:10 PM PDT by tfecw (Vote Democrat, It's easier than working)
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To: wideawake

Actually, Marx was going by the industrial revolution which was supposed to put away all manual labor. The robotic/IT revolution will eventually do most of the job. Physcial labor will be needed, but much less so. Perhaps a form of 4 year mandatory service of work, then the rest of your life in retirement.

Hey, won't be so bad if we do it right.


14 posted on 07/11/2005 2:55:10 PM PDT by G32
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To: wideawake

Mm-hmm. I get that in the self-checkout lane.
Luckily, the folks at Wal-Mart are really quick about these disputes and seem to almost always use the long lost doctrine of, "The Customer Is Always Right," even if it's just to keep the line moving.


15 posted on 07/11/2005 2:55:41 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Roll your own cigarettes! You'll save $$$ and smoke less!(Magnetic bumper stickers-click my name)
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To: devane617

"The response was curious because, when a public relations person is faced out-of-the-blue with questions on a random topic like robots, he or she would typically pause, jot down some notes, and say something along the lines of, "Gosh, I have no idea about that, but I'll check into it for you.""

Hey, moronic cnet writer, did you ever think the PR person didn't have to pause because she's been asked the same idiotic question before?

Duh.

I guess Cnet was really desperate for some filler articles.


16 posted on 07/11/2005 2:56:40 PM PDT by flashbunny
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To: devane617
Which type of robot will they get?

Welcome to WalMart. Can I get you a cart?

Hey meatsack. You want a cart? Go get it yourself.

17 posted on 07/11/2005 3:03:08 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Bork should have had Kennedy's USSC seat and Kelo v. New London would have gone the other way.)
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To: devane617
Why so nervous about robots, Walmart?

Because whatever statement the company issues it's going to be spinned, chewed, and grinded up by the idiots from United Food and Commercial Union, as well as the usual anti-WalMart opponents making the same-old ad hominem attacks?

It's a good thing we don't have robotics helping to build automobiles and such, eh? I like paying $125,000 for a bucket.

18 posted on 07/11/2005 3:03:45 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
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To: devane617

This is great unless your name is Sarah Connor.


19 posted on 07/11/2005 3:05:35 PM PDT by conserv13
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To: devane617


WELCOME TO WALMART, PUNY HUMAN.

20 posted on 07/11/2005 3:08:45 PM PDT by Lazamataz (Looks like the Supreme Court wants to play Cowboys and Homeowners.)
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