And turn off those wasteful overhead lights! Not needed unless something breaks down.
Humans should THINK. Machines should work.
Posted on 02/05/2017 1:37:59 AM PST by TigerClaws
After a factory in Dongguan, China, replaced most of its workers with robots, it witnessed a spectacular rise in productivity.
While some of the world’s leaders are obsessed with keeping people out of their country, an unspoken entity is slowly but certainly taking our jobs: robots. It’s been long discussed that robots and computers will start taking our jobs “in the near future” — well that near future is upon us and we’re not really prepared to deal with it. Of course, some jobs are more at risk than others, are few are as threatened as factory jobs. Advertisement
According to Monetary Watch, the Changying Precision Technology Company focuses on the production of mobile phones and uses automated production lines. The factory used to be run by 650 employees, but now just 60 people get the entire job done, while robots take care of the rest. Luo Weiqiang, the general manager, says the number of required employees will drop to 20 at one point. Despite this reduction in staff, not only is the factory producing more equipment (a 250% increase), but it’s also ensuring better quality.
Without a doubt, this is something we’ll be hearing more and more of in the future. Adidas is one of the companies which has already announced a shift towards robot-only factories, and it’s not just factories that will eliminate workers for robots. According to a report created by Dr Carl Benedikt Frey and Associate Professor Michael Osborne from the University of Oxford, there’s an over 90% chance that robots will take over the jobs of (long list ahead): masons, budget analysts, tax examiners and collectors, butchers and meat cutters, retail salespersons, geological and petroleum technicians, hand sewers, abstract searchers, watch repairers, new account clerks, tax preparers, order clerks, loan officers, legal secretaries, radio operators, tellers, hotel and restaurant hostesses, cashiers, real estate brokers, polishing workers, dental technicians, pesticide sprayers, telephone operators, cooks (not chefs), rock splitters, gaming dealers, and many, many more. Yeah, that’s a long list, and it goes on for much longer. Whether we admit it or not, we’re stepping well into the bounds of “robots taking over our jobs” and I’m not sure any economy is able to handle this at the moment.
I’ve got some very mixed feelings about this. Firstly, this is indeed exciting. We’re entering a new age of automation, and technology is truly reaching impressive peaks. The process is better and it’s also more resource efficient, which is also good. I’m also happy that humans don’t have to work repetitive, unchallenging jobs and can instead focus on other things. The problem is … there might not be other things. In fact there most definitely aren’t. Those people are out of a job, and there’s a good chance they’ll have a very difficult time finding new jobs. Simply put, our society isn’t prepared to integrate these people in different jobs and naturally this will cause huge problems.
Technology is about to cause a huge labor disruption - from self driving cars to robot-worker factories. Millions will be out of work.
So it appears that millions will NOT be able to afford what the robots are producing, because they are out of a job and not producing income. The answer is the living wage, paid by the robots, who don’t need the money. /s or not.
Bump!
And turn off those wasteful overhead lights! Not needed unless something breaks down.
Humans should THINK. Machines should work.
“Technology is about to cause a huge labor disruption - from self driving cars to robot-worker factories. Millions will be out of work.”
Technology has always causes what may be seen at the time as a “huge labor disruption” but the market always corrects what might have been a disruption.
The electric light disrupted the candle industry, automobile disrupted labor associated with horses, and computers and software disrupted labor associated with typewriters.
However, electricity, cars and computers created demand for even more labor than the technology they replaced.
Advances in technology almost always brings about efficiency and that is always good for the economy.
“So it appears that millions will NOT be able to afford what the robots are producing, because they are out of a job and not producing income.”
Advances in technology have never caused net job losses.
Yes, it’s good for the overall economy but its rapidly concentrating the economic gains in the hands of relatively few (people with moderately high to high IQs and good/strong work ethics) - fortunately for myself, I am among that group. Prior tech revolutions created good solid pay jobs for average IQ and even lower IQ people. This most recent wave has predominantly benefited higher IQ people. The next few phases will likely further benefit higher IQ people who can use robot labor from capital investments to earn profits and leave average IQ and lower IQ in the dust. What do you do for the bottom 75%? Everyone could participate if they invested in the stock market but far too many are more interested in the latest iPhone and not in investing in their future. At some point, a UBI is coming - probably not in our lifetime but it’s on the horizon.
Yep....I think, IIRC, those oblong tomatoes were engineered so they could be harvested by machines. I could be wrong, though.
Humans will be needed to build and repair the robots, until they invent robots to do those jobs.
What’s a UBI?
universal basic income
I do machine motion monitoring, changes, edits, and logic in a gigantic factory. It’s great work. Everything comes to a screeching halt without me. The human need is in the maintenance of these systems.
Perhaps at some point, there is a tipping point where robots are designing and engineering robots that design and engineer robots that are building other robots and those robots have AI that is far more advanced than any human’s intelligence, but I doubt that will be soon.
Until then, we should accept technology and understand that technology almost always improves quality of life and strengthens the economy.
We should also keep in mind that every society and every country that has failed to adopt or pursue advances in technology has failed.
In other words, everyone will be paid the same?
There will be robots that repair the robots that repair other robots.
Management never front end prepares for all product variables and profiles. They hear robot or automation but they fail to define what they need it to do? I keep making changes based on what they failed anticipate.
UBI= Universal basic income
Basically the idea is that robots do the work and the government pays you a certain amount for the robot’s production.
Effectively it makes everyone a slave, If you disagree with some government mandate they’ll stop your income until you starve or give in to the demand.
Machines, robots will create Hell on Earth
China does not want an unemployment problem ... keep in up and they will, which is always big trouble.
No - basically it’d be like social security for everyone. You can still work and receive income from a job while receiving social security. The general idea is it would replace all other forms of welfare. It’s too expensive at this point to do but *if* 50-70% of net jobs are eliminated over the next 50, 100 years due to automation/robotics - governments will be forced to provide one or face revolution.
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