The average working person struggles while Corporate profits soar. The middle class is being replaced by automation.
We underestimate the impact of automation. This video observes how, as the economic crisis deepens, competition gets tougher.
This is forcing business to automate more which in turn lays people off, reducing purchasing power and fuelling the crisis further. This self destructive trend has a limit where the system stops, and we may be close to that limit.
The service sector absorbed almost all the jobs that the industrial sector automated. Noow robots are able to substitute almost any job in the service sector, starting with cash machines and moving to robotic “chefs” and medical doctors.
Automation can free us from dumb, unhealthy, boring jobs while creating abundance of resources. Automation is a product of the application of science and knowledge so it has it´s own evolution. Every modern machine is created by the sum of knowledge of all human generations from all parts off the world. So, is it a positive thing to regulate or stop automation?..
Well i believe that stopping automation could only lead to stretch the life of our current economic system which in the end only “benefits” a tiny percent off the population while destroying the biosphere ability to sustain life in this planet.
So maybe it could be a good idea to “Occupy Technology”, meaning that an amazing modern Robotic arm that contains higher tech than Apollo 11 and which is used to produce the ultimate disposable Chinese electronic speech recognition Santa Claus, could also be used to produce organic vegetables?
2 Responses
I’d urge everyone to read the book “The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future”
It is all about the impact of robots/automation on jobs and the economy. It makes the basic point that machines do not drive consumer spending. As more jobs are eliminated, could a smaller and smaller percentage of the population sustain consumer spending and the economy? Would we want that?
Whether you agree with the book’s conclusions or not, it raises many important and fascinating questions. Questions that are are really not being addressed elsewhere. Check out the reviews on Amazon (over 100 with many strongly opposed views).
Agreed. In three weeks, my family farm will be “audited” by the USDA. Demanded in the audit are I9 forms and ID cards for my children, reams of paperwork, checklists and verification checklists, and other time-consuming but not productive requirements. I’d love to hire some help, but am too afraid that I’ll run afoul of a government regulation. Besides that, I can’t afford the government taxes such as workman’s comp, obamacare (after 50 employees), social security, etc. I’d hire someone for a straight salary, if I could — no benefits, no taxes. Such taxes should be the responsibility of the employee, not employer.
Many people I know hire people under the table to do the work that has to be done, without all the fearful regulations. I won’t do that. But, I have to admit that it is tempting.
I’m tired: my two sons and I work 11-14 hour days, six days a week. But, I still won’t hire. Too scary. Too expensive. Too regulated.