Posted on 11/13/2012 2:47:23 PM PST by Nachum
Foxconn has been planning to buy 1 million robots to replace human workers and it looks like that change, albeit gradual, is about to start.
The company is allegedly paying $25,000 per robot – about three times a worker’s average salary – and they will replace humans in assembly tasks. The plans have been in place for a while – I spoke to Foxconn reps about this a year ago – and it makes perfect sense. Humans are messy, they want more money, and having a half-a-million of them in one factory is a recipe for unrest. But what happens after the halls are clear of careful young men and women and instead full of whirring robots? What happens to China’s “burgeoning” economy?
The original story is short on details but it seems that the robots will work alongside employees and not replace them outright – although some crowding could occur.
(Excerpt) Read more at techcrunch.com ...
And don’t call me Shirley.
The workers displaced by them do and same for their family. So make a rough guess that for each robot that eliminates 5 workers the Democrats get 15 voters
So we should stop progress all in the name of saving jobs then??
Wow!
That's a pretty huge leap there, FRiend. Care to explain how you get from increased manufacturing automation to "more Obama voters"?
And please drop the self-righteous tone, OK? Worship? Come on...
I'm guessing that you use a "transportation robot" called a car or truck. Your home is probably heated by an automated "heating robot" called a furnace. Do you have an automated "dish cleaning robot"? I do. One for cleaning clothes and another for drying them too!
Unless you're living a caveman lifestyle, everyone uses machines to make their lives easier and more productive.
A mechanic who uses a pneumatic impact wrench instead of cranking on a ratchet is participating in the eeeeeevils of mechanical help. A cashier who uses a computerized cash register instead of a pencil and paper is too.
Using machines to do some of our work for us is not a Bad Thing, whether it's an individual or a company. The principle is exactly the same.
Sorry we are long past that point.
It is time to bring jobs back to the USA.
Past what point?
Factory automation is not what sends jobs overseas! Robots aren't what's causing increased unemployment!
Do you believe you are contributing to unemployment because you use a washer and dryer instead of hiring someone to do your family's laundry? According to your reasoning, you should be ashamed of yourself for causing unemployment! You and your family are doing exactly what Foxconn is doing, by automating part of your labor instead of hiring people.
The big problems are coming from false Keynesian "spend your way to prosperity!" economics and entrenched socialist policies worldwide. They're breaking economies with impunity, and George Soros laughs with glee! It's Obama with his callous class warfare and destructive "community organizing". And voters celebrate the man who will happily wipe out the fruits of a life's work.
Don't drink the liberal Kool-aid and believe the propaganda about capitalism -- including factory automation -- being the enemy. It isn't. This is exactly the kind of fear-based thought that brings on unions and all sorts of protectionist actions that smother whole economies.
Can you tell me what happens to the employees who lose jobs due to automation/ computerization/robotics?
Yes! Of course!
What will it accomplish in stopping progress??
Allow me to redirect it back to you: What happened to all the farm workers who were replaced by farming robots (tractors and combines)? Lumberjacks displaced by logging robots (chainsaws and skidders)? How about gas welders who were replaced with arc welders? ...human welders replaced by welding robots? ...maids pushed out by cleaning robots (automatic dishwashers, washing machines and vacuum cleaners)? ...wooden buggy wheel makers displaced by transportation robots (cars, buses, trains or airplanes)?
The list is endless. They are temporarily displaced, then go to work doing something else.
Technology advancements always displace workers in the short run, and they always raise the standard of living for a much larger group of people because of the increased efficiency and reduced cost they bring. The temporary pain of unemployment -- and I've been there personally -- is outweighed by the larger benefit to everyone.
This is why even the "poor" in America will usually have satellite TV, microwave ovens, personal computers, cell phones and two cars. ...and are probably overweight to boot. The truly poor in other countries have none of those luxuries, and are doing well if they get something to eat every day.
Manufacturing efficiencies brought about through technology make for lower costs (therefore prices) and higher quality. That means a much larger percentage of the population can afford nice things.
Buggy whip manufacturers, automobiles yada yada yada I have heard it all before. I am touched by your innocent faith in how capitalism is continually advancing, self adjusting and will take care of this computerization/automation/robotics problem too. But it won’t. This time is different. The present 8% employment rate here will get worse from here.
Computerization/automation/robotics and free trade will only give us more angry vengeful Obama voters who vote against “the rich”. Democrats are very good at ginning up such resentment just look at the recent election. They will then jack up my taxes and your taxes to payoff the unemployed and get their votes.
You must be OK with your taxes buying off these people. If they are unemployed how do they exist? By scamming Gov't welfare, housing, medical programs and by off the books activities such as drug dealing, babysitting, shade tree mechanic, home repair etc etc etc etc
There's only one "union" over there, and it's called the People's Liberation Army. Thuggery is their core competence.
More jobs.
You've heard it before because it's true. (You've probably heard that the earth is a sphere for the same reason.)
Why didn't computerization and robots cause unemployment to skyrocket during the 80's under Reagan? Answer: Because unemployment numbers are tied to the bigger economy, not the temporary displacement of workers replaced by technology.
Are you seriously blaming technology for the >8% unemployment numbers? Don't you think the multi-trillion dollar deficits being dumped on the economy by B Hussein Obama have something to do with it? I think you're on the wrong web site to be trashing capitalism and letting the Communist in Chief off the hook.
Computerization/automation/robotics and free trade will only give us more angry vengeful Obama voters who vote against “the rich”.
You're just plain wrong, FRiend. I don't know how else to put it. You're wrong.
You can't explain the logic of your conclusion; you just keep repeating it. I've given you multiple examples and explanations for why you're wrong. I've lead you to the water, but I can't make you drink.
Have fun bitterly blaming technological progress for what liberal policies and press have done.
Oh, and you'd better sell your dishwasher, washer and dryer and computer so as not to be hypocritical. You're surely adding to unemployment numbers by not hiring workers to do those things for you.
Your Ronald Reagan era example is way in the past. We essentially had no trade deficits back then, China sold us nothing and we had millions upon millions more in manufacturing back then. Computer hard drives for PCs were made in America. Today we have many fewer men in manufacturing because they have been made unemployed or bumped down to some moronic service sector job. Or maybe they glommed onto a Gov’t job.
Even you will agree we had more men in manufacturing in 1983. So what are men doing in America instead of these manufacturing jobs? The real estate bubble kept a lot of guys busy who like to make things and can’t stand being in an office.
This time is different. Forget that ol buggy whip manufacturer BS. It applied back then, not today. There will be no big job opportunities opening up again for guys ever again so yer butt is going to be taxed off to provide them bread and circuses or to put them in jail or prison. Women will do a bit better as more jobs become sit on yer butt at a desk jobs.
You cannot repeal technological progress but “productivity” as you know it is a steaming pile. It is a myth that it means progress. It means more guys out of jobs. The American economy was much better balanced 40 years ago...30 years ago. Lots more opportunities for guys and the women were more family oriented instead of lunatic careerist female lawyers and bureaucrats. BTW the law schools are graduating 40% men and 60% women. They (women) love that legal BS because it makes them feel powerful. Or maybe they become an environmental lawyer and try and screw our coal industries which surprise surprise....means men losing jobs. Men who can’t stand working in an office
So you think the Federal Government should tell business that they should limit the amount of technological growth so people can keep their jobs right??
Stop asking me retarded questions.
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