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 worlds leaders are obsessed with keeping people out of their country, an unspoken entity is slowly but certainly taking our jobs: robots. Its been long discussed that robots and computers will start taking our jobs in the near future well that near future is upon us and were 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 its also ensuring better quality.
Without a doubt, this is something well 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 its 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, theres 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, thats a long list, and it goes on for much longer. Whether we admit it or not, were stepping well into the bounds of robots taking over our jobs and Im not sure any economy is able to handle this at the moment.
Ive got some very mixed feelings about this. Firstly, this is indeed exciting. Were entering a new age of automation, and technology is truly reaching impressive peaks. The process is better and its also more resource efficient, which is also good. Im also happy that humans dont 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 arent. Those people are out of a job, and theres a good chance theyll have a very difficult time finding new jobs. Simply put, our society isnt prepared to integrate these people in different jobs and naturally this will cause huge problems.
“Machines, robots will create Hell on Earth”
Ironically, the device you typed or spoke the above text with is a machine or what could be considered a robot.
Advances in technology should never stop or be limited.
The difference between humans building robots and past waves of tech prove my point. To be a human engineer designing robots you probably need an IQ of at least 115 - that means ~85% of the population couldn't do that job even if they wanted it. Meanwhile - people with an IQ of 85 could make a decent pay on a manufacturing assembly line 40 years ago.
No.
You use robots to help you in your 22nd century private sector job. Kinda like farmers using machines in their 20th century jobs. Which resulted in hordes of clod hoppers losing their jobs and having to go find work in the cities, as many fewer farmers produced the produce of many more.
If you are resourceful, you likely own multiple robots and coordinate their labor with your clients or customers.
If you are exceptional, you invent new robots or find new ways to apply existing robots. You go public. You franchise your robot intellectual property. You become part of the one percent.
As for the government, only those who pay in more than they take out should be allowed to vote.
I use to be a telephone operator, there were hundreds working at any given time....that job has been long gone.
What if the robots decide they aren’t getting a fair deal on taxes ;) and refuse to pay.
At almost any point in time since the industrial Revolution, a person could say, “40 years ago certain people could survive and succeed in the economy and now they could not.” However, while it may be painful for some, the market always corrects and there are net gains.
And yes, things have changed. Forty years ago there were working class neighborhoods with high rates of home ownership and now not many such communities exist.
I grew up in what was a working class neighborhood. My neighbors owned their home, had five kids, all in Catholic School and the father delivered newspapers and the mother was a checker at a grocery store.
That would be impossible today.
Just give everyone $15/hr/problem solved.
Once robots and automation started eliminated massive numbers of jobs that you need a full standard deviation above the norm from to be employed today, people like you and I will feel some pain - fortunately for us that's probably long after we're done working. But in the meantime, wage pressure for the bottom 50% is likely occur massively over the next 30 years and moderately for the next 25%. A UBI is the only real solution to the problem long term - but it is a long term problem that can be addressed later. Halting/reversing illegal immigration and adding a border tax would probably delay by 10, 15 years this impact in the US.
The only problem in your analysis is that advancing technology requires a more educated workforce and in the US our schools are failing us.
Advances in technology have never caused net job losses.
No, but standards of living have gone up while the average number of hours worked has decreased.
Maybe we will get the 30 hour week? How about a 3.5 day work week, with two shifts of workers in a week to give seven day coverage?
Well at least those liberals got their $15 minimum wage.../s
Serves 'em right...
This is different.
I'm guessing "robot repair tech" will be a job in high demand pretty soon. Unless they invent robots that wil do that too or self-repairing robots.
So what are 900 million Chinese going to do everyday if their factories are run by robots?
Xi Jinping's problem. No ours.
Our goal should be to build even better robots, export them to the Chinese, and make it a billion Chinese out of work!
They forgot one important job loss.
The union BOSS!
Maybe people could just NOT buy the stuff made by robots?
Robots will do the jobs that Americans won’t do.
There will be two levels in society. Upper Class and Poverty Class. Note I did not say Lower, I said poverty class. We’re seeing that shift now, but what Americans in particular are not ‘seeing’ is how the immigration issue rolls right into this challenge.
Let’s look at those “jobs Americans won’t do” for a minute. Remember when that was what we were told? Welfare recipients won’t do what jobs? Landscape, construction, vocational type jobs...so who is doing those jobs? Those jobs are not going to go away. We talk about immigrants taking jobs away, but who is willing to do those jobs? Yes, it is a bit of a circular argument isn’t it?
And if this is the future of factory jobs, what does it do to President Trump’s agenda to bring back good paying factory jobs to America? Perhaps this is a good example of why we should charge a 30% tariff on imports? Something needs to go the a UBI.
Will this technology give way or lead the way to full blown socialism? Those of lower IQ won’t have work?
Education, training, retraining....for what jobs? We see even service jobs falling to the robot/automated economy. It is a troubling prospect indeed. We have always leaped forward...we just don’t quite know where that leap is going this time.
I’ve been programming and maintaining industrial “robots” since 1988 and am very good at it. When robots rule the world, people like me will rule the robots. Bwah-hahahaha.
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