http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/10/robot-taxis-starting-2016-in-japan-self.html Japan is moving full speed ahead to automate many driving jobs that were once done by humans. Employers worldwide will happily move to these new technologies as they become available putting millions of people out of work as human labor continues to be replaced by automation. The only question is what will become of the millions of needless workers once they cease to be an asset and become an expensive liability draining entitlement programs.
gold mines are turning to robotics to in africa http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/mining/2015/10/02/sas-gold-miners-turn-to-machines-to-stay-afloat
Makes me think of that cartoon movie.......which will be us in a 100 years. Just can't remember the name of the movie. It had a robot that was cleaning up the trashed Earth. All the humans were on a space ship (cruise space ship). They did nothing but sat in a chair and could not stand, were obese and stupid as heck......
Well, they are just lazy good for nothing and unemployed scum. It's their own fault that jobs are drying up and "American" companies increasingly refuse to contribute to our society and choose to give record compensation to their CEOs even why front-line employees see their wages stagnate.
There were the same concerns for ditch diggers when the steam shovel was invented and when the computer put millions of clerks out of work. Yet somehow enough jobs were created not just to replace those lost but to accommodate millions of additional people as country's populations grew.
As long as there are needs, there will be jobs. What's likely though is the idea of an 'employee' may go away.
Well then. Talk about a ridiculously simple suggestion. Other ways to contribute? You even have a clue what that means? Do you think its easy tot ake someone and retrain them? I think you missed the point of the original post. With advanced technology comes specialization. Specialization requires far lengthier periods of education. Our school systems can provide specialization but such people will stay in school much longer, incur huge debts when they come out, find their education needs to be constantly upgraded and such people are far less in number almost 80 to 90% less in number than those once doing the jobs the technology replaces. I think tat was the point. There is a bubble, a he bubble of unemployed as they become outmoded. Find another way to contribute? You serious. For many its a death sentence. - - - Updated - - - Hey now aren't you quick with the generalizations. who is "their" in the above case? You even know? You can't even tell the difference between executive and workers.
Of course making the transition from unskilled to specialized skilled is possible but it takes time. The problem is in the interim there is a real bubble effect of 1-3 generations to allow for that adjustment. People just don't transition from digging ditches to making and maintaining robots overnight. That is the issue. There are millions of people as we speak going off line if I may use that word and finding themselves squeezed out. If they all went back to school at the same time and then all come out at the same time, with new skills, you really think presto jobs are waiting? For change to be effective it must be implemented in phases to allow for adaption. Its a basic rule in economic transition as well as human behaviour. We should not be afraid of technology but we must be realistic as to its social impacts both negative as well as positive. The unemployed caught unable to make a transition don' simply die or go crawl under a rock. They become the source of crime, revolution, greater medical demands on our social safety net and hospital systems causing huge increases in taxes to pay for that. That is the point some are making including me.
A death sentence... I don't think so. If someone is truly incapable of contributing... like the drooling village idiot or senile grandpa Joe, we rarely let them starve to death. That said, are you saying these people are that completely useless? If so, let them sit on the curb between drooling Bill and grandpa Joe and the rest of us will do the best we can to keep them from starving. If not, let them roll up their sleeves and find a way to contribute. And sure, life can be hard. But the alternative is to ask someone else to do the hard work of keeping you alive.
The concept that all that is necessary is to raise the skill level of people through education and that education alone will solve the problem of unemployment is comforting but unrealistic. Most factory jobs can be eliminated by automation. Most clerical can also be eliminated. Phone marketing is already disappearing. Cab drivers and Uber will be eliminated by automated vehicles. Investing is already in the process of becoming automated. Construction of homes will soon be even more done in automated factories. And as machines that can learn becomes more prevalent many more jobs that "require thinking " will be susceptible to automation. The real choice is going to have to be severely reduced work weeks with people being able to support families with vastly reduced work hours. Or we could put draconian population methods into practice. But one thing is clear. America and the world will not be able to continue to replace people with machines and than pass all the cost savings on to just the upper managers and stockholders while putting more and more employees on the street.
There is no doubt that some jobs will be handled through robots but the majority of workers need not worry.
If folks continue to think of themselves as workers instead of problem solvers... they may. Work is moving objects. We don't need people to 'move things' as much as we did, we have other options that people. Just executing a task over and over again, or laboring at a simple process... that's becoming valueless as a job. We need people to solve problems though. People need to change modes, same as they did when we stopped needing hunters and gatherers and started needing laborers. They're going to have to change modes again. We no longer need hunters, soon we won't need laborers, but we will need problem solvers more than ever. People to design, direct, organize, and direct that labor provided by automation and other sources. If people want a job, there are an infinite number of them right now. Step up to a problem and get to work solving it. No, it won't be easy and no I can't tell you how to solve it. But that's the job that needs doing and even if you'd rather sweep floors... well, Roomba does it better. That's not a job anymore.
I have no problem with people becoming problem solvers. But the bottom 90% of Americans didn't suddenly stop becoming "problem solvers" starting in 1981, causing inequality to skyrocket as more and more of the nation's income (and then wealth) was transferred to the richest 10% (and mostly richest 1% and 0.1%): Something else happened that year.
Were it not for burdensome regulations, taxes and certifications, people could have their own businesses and make as much money as they were willing to work for. They could use their own brain for their own profit, rather than demand that others pay them what they want.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-jobs/&usg=AFQjCNH-WX6Ht4Col3icsUKrI7Q4DYgciw http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...y-job/&usg=AFQjCNGRfNEUOBYXaaKwokFAYfnFsFIeLQ http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...years/&usg=AFQjCNHZFOyjRt3ehJMc_SkLX54w-ZSY0g You guys are in serious denial. By conservative estimates, we are looking at the loss of about 1/2 of all jobs to automation going forward. Personally I think these estimates are low. I am hard pressed to think of any job that will not be able to be done faster, cheaper and better by automation in 20 years.
A lot of things happened in the 80's. Telecom experienced a huge growth (cell phones; AOL). The computer industry matured (Microsoft Windows; the Macintosh). The biotech industry was born and exploded with success. In contrast to the lackluster 70's when innovation and entrepreneurship sagged, America experienced a flurry of renewed economic activity in the 80's. That activity was driven by small companies with dedicated contributors who did new things. Most American's didn't stop doing what they had been doing. They kept right on showing up for 'work' and asking to be told what to do. And found there were less people wanting to tell them what to do. The folks they had counted on to think for them, just didn't need them as much. Those new industries used less workers, and required more problem solvers. Small numbers of people saw new problems, took ownership of them, but didn't need 'workers' to make their idea's happen. The entrepreneurs made their visions real using computers, networks, bio-fabrication or other methods to 'work' their solutions and got more done with less 'workers.' The new problem solvers profited tremendously. Those who contributed less, profited less.
But that's no longer true. The jobs that go aren't replaced. https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=WL&v=7Pq-S557XQU
They'll become low paid ditch diggers and burger flippers (that are also being replaced by techology). Eventually human labor will fundamentally become obsolete due to technology which is a double-edged sword. When (not if) this occurs then the capitalistic economy that relies on market forces will collapse. While the capability to produce goods and provide services expands with technology the ability to earn an income so that goods and services can be purchased will disappear. Lots of supply capabilities and no ability to consume because of the loss of income from human labor. We know this is happening but no one has come up with a pragmatic solution so far.