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Terminated: Judgement Day — Parallax Forums

Terminated: Judgement Day

ercoerco Posts: 20,255
edited 2012-08-25 17:09 in Robotics
Looks like threat of a robotics "hostile takeover" is less about violence and killing and more about quietly replacing factory workers. So stay in school, kids: future jobs will be in robot design, programming, and maintenance, not assembling cars & iphones.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/18/how-128-robot-arms-can-do-the-work-of-hundreds-of-chinese-electronics-workers/

Comments

  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2012-08-23 20:15
    erco wrote: »
    Looks like threat of a robotics "hostile takeover" is less about violence and killing and more about quietly replacing factory workers. So stay in school, kids: future jobs will be in robot design, programming, and maintenance, not assembling cars & iphones.

    http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/18/how-128-robot-arms-can-do-the-work-of-hundreds-of-chinese-electronics-workers/

    Wonder what happens to the economy and society once the majority of people are unemployed. Who buys what the robots produce ?
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2012-08-24 06:45
    kwinn wrote: »
    Wonder what happens to the economy and society once the majority of people are unemployed....

    timemachine2.jpg
  • CircuitMageCircuitMage Posts: 62
    edited 2012-08-24 08:24
    kwinn wrote: »
    Wonder what happens to the economy and society once the majority of people are unemployed. Who buys what the robots produce ?

    Then you just need fewer robots. Robot RIF = Cost savings! Stock goes up! And more junk robot parts for us!
  • FranklinFranklin Posts: 4,747
    edited 2012-08-24 13:23
    Who buys what the robots produce ?
    The consumer robots do.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2012-08-25 00:16
    Some pretty snappy responses there.

    @ElectricAye, Yes, that's what I fear.

    @CircuitMage, That would be great, but after seeing the recent result of greed I fear it is wishful thinking.

    @Franklin, I take that to mean the current crop of consumer robots. If they are all unemployed what do they use to buy it with ?
  • lardomlardom Posts: 1,659
    edited 2012-08-25 10:42
    @Kwinn, Automation makes it possible for me to afford cars and AC. Consider all the people and technology that allow you to get hot water from your faucet. Better yet, how about a banana split, which is a tropical/frozen desert. You can't automate everything.
    Robots will take care of some of the grunt work. That leaves people free to solve some of the other problems.
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2012-08-25 16:14
    lardom wrote: »
    @Kwinn, Automation makes it possible for me to afford cars and AC. Consider all the people and technology that allow you to get hot water from your faucet. Better yet, how about a banana split, which is a tropical/frozen desert. You can't automate everything.
    Robots will take care of some of the grunt work. That leaves people free to solve some of the other problems.

    I am not against automation, it has made the standard of living we now enjoy possible so I am in favor of it. Unfortunately it can also have some very unfavorable consequences if our social and political institutions do not adapt to the changes increasing automation produces.

    I can foresee one of two paths this may take. The one I hope for is a comfortable standard of living for everyone, increased personal freedom, and increased free time to pursue personal interests and education. The one I fear is the increasing concentration of political power, information dissemination, education, and the means of production into the hands of a relatively small number of bankers, financiers, corporations, and politicians. These are becoming the new aristocracy.

    Unfortunately if one looks carefully at the statistics it looks like the latter path is the one we are going down. I hope I am wrong. I hope the increasing concentration of wealth into a relatively smaller percentage of the population is a blip on the curve, but it does concern me.
  • lardomlardom Posts: 1,659
    edited 2012-08-25 17:09
    @Kwinn, Ah! I see your point. We agree.
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