The Robots Are Taking Our Jobs

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The robot are taking over, that's what wired mag said. They also might create a few jobs too.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/12/ff-robots-will-take-our-jobs/all/
Its major automation time. I've been noticing some changes. Like different manufactures making things to order. Like I order three gizmos they make them just for me, its made here in the USA not overseas. It also can be a one of a kind and not cost much more than a mass produced item.
I notice these things but have little time to write it down, besides other people do a much better job than I.
Alvan Toffler on the future of wealth.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uATCYmLLxlg[/youtube]

My thought is if you understand where things are headed before the herd (normals) does you can get an edge.

There can be good and bad coming out of this but for some reason I only see the bad, as the rich don't want to share their wealth with the poor below them.

If Pizza Hut has robots prepare its food, then I'm applying for SSI benefits, "job creators" be damned! They're no good for me if they buy robots to do the one job they'll hire me for!

The more things become automated, the less jobs there will be.
Let's say it requires a staff of 5 to run a fast food outlet day to day, with the upper management of the fast food chains running in the background. So let's say 60 man hours a day.
If fast food outlets become automated, the only things required will be stock replenishment and maintenance of the machines.
I reckon the man hours per fast food outlet per day will reduce by a factor of three by 2050.
The whole working world is aiming to reduce costs.

f the number of jobs decline with the use of robots, we might have to make two choices. One, make robots illegal, except for hazardous things (like if there is radiation or other hazardous materials), where only people can do them. Two, we give some thought and a way to implement libertarian economist Milton Freidman's "negative income tax" which gives everyone a basic, livable wage.

I'll have to watch that video later when I have time.

As an Industrial Engineering Technologist I'm rather highly trained in the arts of using technology & automation to F people out of their jobs, reduce costs, increase efficiency, quality, profits etc.. BUT, since I have a MASSIVE moral & ethical problem with that part of my education, I refuse to do it. It's not like I want to design flintstone like workplaces, but I'd rather see humans doing work than automate everything for the sake of satisfying corporate/bankster greed. Where technology and automation is required and makes sense, sure, but if there are efficiencies created that free up human resources - then there should be some more valuable role for that person to do. If not, I don't want any part of sending them home w/o a value adding job to do and paycheque anymore. IMO, there are better, more balanced ways to solve these problems.

In later years Milton Friedman was paid off to oppose the negative income tax, messed up world.

This is actually not true. The economy is not a closed system so robots taking existing jobs does not mean that there will be fewer jobs. What happens is that the types of jobs change, theoretically moving up the value chain. It's actually better for people in terms of productivity and also not having to do menial work. As an example before there were automatic dishwashers, humans had to do it. Machines largely replaced that job but you don't see fewer overall jobs because of it. Instead people can use that time to do something more productive.

While there is some truth to this, automation has also contributed to people being lazy & physically unhealthy. Every little thing that gets automated and makes life easier means less physical work (F x d = Joules) meaning that people burn fewer calories and don't maintain muscle mass, stamina, flexibility etc. Also, people aren't utilizing that time optimally. Laundry goes in the machine, and people sit down and watch TV & eat junk. That's hardly what you describe. It would be better if people did use time wisely (me too! lol) but they don't.

Instead, what's happening is that corporations are mandated by law & their bankster overlords to increase profits continuously. Classic case of "tell me how I'm measured and I'll show you how I'll behave," in action. This results in some basic economics & business/production math to determine the best value for $ in process improvements and automation (automation is the last step, as it's most expensive.) that reduce the human workforce and expense of paying them, paying for benefits, retirement etc & it is very rare that the reason for doing it isn't elimination of the job and is to free someone up to create value in another role within the company. That is reality.

Meanwhile, as my parents have described upon returning from trips to the Domincan Republic, people there eat healthy organic rice & chicken with nearly every meal, work physically in everything they do, enjoy the sunshine, are happy and smiling despite lack of monetary wealth, are very physically fit, and most everyone has a job to do. Even coffee being ground up for commercial sale is done with a hand grinder mounted on the fence rail of an open air work shack.

Nah, we don't need to go back to flintstone work... but we do need a far better balance vs. swinging the pendulum over so far towards automation that it puts people out of work & makes them fat and lazy and so forth.

Like all things economic, these things will happen in cycles.. right now we're seeing high knowledge sector stuff, automation, and unhealthy people.. which is a big part of why I've been working hard on physical fitness, as with fewer and fewer fit people physically capable of certain types of skilled/unskilled labour, I'm going to be in a pretty sweet counter-cyclical spot to capitalize on making some $ - especially since there's also a generational cycle at play... and the boomers are about to retire en masse, soooo there will be great paying jobs available for people willing & able to work vs. think.*

*Where I live. YMMV. We have a very highly educated population w/ the largest University class ever in schools now, more than in K-12 schools, so the oversupply of geeks that went to school (like me) is about to increase even further.. further depressing white collar professional salaries & increasing the wages of skilled construction trades. That's why the next batch of apprentices on the tools aren't going to be the pool hall junkies that didn't want to go to college, but rather, those that already went. With student loans to pay off and wages going in opposite directions, guys will drop the books and computers and pick up the tools again. Over time that will bring a better balance to all industries, especially construction, as educated workers will be able to transform the industry into a more efficient less wasteful one.

This isnt news - technolgy has been puting many peple out of jobs since the begining of industrilisation, and evre since computres started to realy be useful in a variety of tasks, particulrly financil, it is put even moer peple uot of jobs - why keep 20 accuontants around to do what one computre can do itself? I expect the trendd of makin people's lives uterly obsolete for the profiit of the upper echelon thruogh new technology continuing wel into the future, at lest until the modrn world fals under its own weight.

I liked the part where they mentioned an advance in one field leading to an advance in a different field. The field I'm training for involves troubleshooting, interpreting schematics, and understanding how basic forces (like electricity) are supposed to behave in a circuit. Not to say this is rocket science, but it's not exactly repetitive (like dishwashing) either.

Do yourself a favor and conduct a thought experiment. Back in the 1800s there was little technology as we knew it. There were also fewer people. Most people had a sh***y standard of living where they couldn't afford more than one pair of clothes and didn't dream of having dishes. Enter two centuries of technology. Now people have most basic necessities taken care of via technological advancements and their standard of living is much higher than in the 1800s. Not only that but there are orders of magnitude more people on the planet. This is how economics and progress works. Again, it is not a closed system. Just because some jobs are destroyed does not mean that other jobs are not created. It has nothing do with the elite or any overlords.

Yes, jobs that can be automated will be automated. But these are not jobs you want anyway. Why do you think that the only people farmers can find to pick their fields are illegal immigrants? The key is to identify opportunities that you are specially suited to that separates you from everyone else.

Im not sure if you'd guys consider this offensive, but technology in my opinion has diminished our social and interpersonal skills, since we're using more emails to organise events and send information, rather than call up someone or talk to them face-to-face

When I was unemployed, I made a habit of trying to do things face-to-face as much as I could to build my people skills

A couple of articles on the same theme.

"How robots are eating the last of America’s—and the world’s—traditional manufacturing jobs."
By Christopher Mims (February 15, 2013)
http://qz.com/53710/robots-are-eating-m ... ring-jobs/

"How the internet is making us poor."
By Christopher Mims (March 27, 2013)
http://qz.com/67323/how-the-internet-made-us-poor/

Although technology has allowed us to escape backbreaking work and it has improved communications and data storage, the automation of things leaves a lot of people with no avenue of employment. I'm looking for a job right now, and the only thing that seems to be available is customer service.
It is very disheartening to think that you have nothing to contribute to society.

Another article:

"Man vs. Machine: Are Any Jobs Safe from Innovation?"
By Thomas Schulz
http://www.spiegel.de/international/bus ... 97412.html