60,000 lose jobs to Robots

[Deleted]

I always wonder...

Do the people running corporations that are desperate to replace humans with robots, because it's cheaper/increases profits, ever consider that the more people get displaced from work the less disposable income there is, so fewer people can afford to buy their product? I'd also see it as very likely that if 35% of the population becomes unemployed in the next 20 years that taxes will go up massively to pay for new welfare claimants.

It seems like their thought process is simplistic like:

Cut costs by firing "expensive" living wage employees > make more dollah

And that just isn't how this is going to work. Corporate capitalism isn't sustainable when mass automation happens.

[Independent voter]

I always wonder...

Do the people running corporations that are desperate to replace humans with robots, because it's cheaper/increases profits, ever consider that the more people get displaced from work the less disposable income there is, so fewer people can afford to buy their product? I'd also see it as very likely that if 35% of the population becomes unemployed in the next 20 years that taxes will go up massively to pay for new welfare claimants.

It seems like their thought process is simplistic like:

Cut costs by firing "expensive" living wage employees > make more dollah

And that just isn't how this is going to work. Corporate capitalism isn't sustainable when mass automation happens.

In China and a lesser extent in the US, taxes won't go up when people become unemployed, certainly not as much as Europe.

[Bollocks]

What people fail to understand is that when technology took jobs the people displaced could easily access jobs of the or similar skill level, however with robots now taking most if not all low skill level jobs , there is no alternative for thease people.

[melodramocracy]

No worries, those 60k will all find other, better paying things to do.

I mean, that's what we say when jobs are lost in the west, right?

[Nakotsu]

better call john conor skynet is coming...

[melodramocracy]

I always wonder...

Do the people running corporations that are desperate to replace humans with robots, because it's cheaper/increases profits, ever consider that the more people get displaced from work the less disposable income there is, so fewer people can afford to buy their product? I'd also see it as very likely that if 35% of the population becomes unemployed in the next 20 years that taxes will go up massively to pay for new welfare claimants.

It seems like their thought process is simplistic like:

Cut costs by firing "expensive" living wage employees > make more dollah

And that just isn't how this is going to work. Corporate capitalism isn't sustainable when mass automation happens.

In the short term that's how it works. Few are interested in the long term implications of anything, because by the time the long term impact is realized, it will be someone else's problem.

[unbound]

TBH, everyone with 1/2 a brain knew this was coming.

Ideally, people will be retrained to support maintenance of the robots or other careers. Of course, since corporations are driven strictly by profit, they are not interested in doing any such thing...they will simply fire the workers. And since most governments are strongly influenced by corporations now, governments will not be doing that job either.

But don't worry...there will be a large number of conservatives that will come along to blame people for being lazy (despite this being outside of their control) as well as those that will say minimum wage hikes are responsible (despite not understanding the mathematical impossibility of surviving on what is current minimum wage or how ignoring the low minimum wage was only delaying this event).

To paraphrase Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the minimum wage workers, and I did not speak out because I was not a minimum wage worker.
Then they came for the 50%, and I did not speak out because I was not one of the 50%.
Then they came for the 20%, and I did not speak out because I was not one of the 20%.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.
And the 0.01% called the 99.99% lazy while they dined in glory and talked of stock options.

[Tyrianth]

Alternative Thread Title: Assembly line slaves with the highest suicide rates in the country replaced by pick and place assembly machinery.

It always feels a bit dishonest when people post pictures of humanoid looking robots to provide an enemy image, when most of those probably look like http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/pnp.jpg or http://www.stillinmotion.de/wp-conte...ry/kuka/02.jpg .

Foxconn exmployees had a suicide rate lower than the national average...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides

Although the number of workplace suicides at the company in 2010 was large in absolute terms, the rate is low when compared to the rest of China.[6] (The country has a high suicide rate with over 20 deaths per 100,000 persons.[7]) In 2010, the worst year for workplace suicides at Foxconn with a total of 14 deaths, its employee count was a reported 930,000 people

[Deleted]

better call john conor skynet is coming...

But first we need to create a time-travel device!

[Tyrianth]

what's the difference between this and people losing jobs to horses? or people losing jobs to tractors? or people losing jobs to the internet?

nothing

There's a huge difference.


Automobiles created more jobs than they displaced or at least was on par. It was one industry taking over another.

Robots will create less jobs than they eliminate. The whole point of automation is that it can be applied to many different industries. It WILL create jobs though as people will need to be build, maintain, and sell them. That in and of itself is thousands maybe even hundreds of thousands of jobs. But they also have the potential to replace millions of workers.

[Kaganfindel]

Humanity isn't threatened by robots; capitalism is. Robots are being used to replace humans in situations where a human can't be humanely and affordably employed. That's a good thing if you want affordable goods and food. It's a good thing if you want humans relieved of dangerous and inhumane working conditions. It's a bad thing if your people have to work for food and shelter, because the opportunity to work bottom rung shit jobs is what automation will cost us.

You can't stop the bastards making robots. It'd be against the interests of humanity to stop the bastards making robots anyway. So maybe we need to take a hard look at the fact that humanity is on the verge of advancing past the point at which having to work for a living makes sense. The only reason full employment is a goal (that nobody has ever reached, by-the-bye,) is because we need to create opportunities for everyone to earn a living. We don't need them to work; we need them to have some means of support. So instead of manufacturing a need for them to do something, maybe we ought to just manufacture a system that supports them without goading them into jobs a machine could do at less expense.

[Reeve]

Much lower now that they installed factory suicide nets. As long as they kill themselves at home instead of at work.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Factory+Suicide+Nets

The worst year for suicides at Foxconn (2010) was 14 deaths, in a company of 930,000 people. That's a rate of 1.5 suicides per 100,000 people. By comparison, China's suicide rate overall is 22.23 suicides per 100,000 people. The United States Average is 12.93. The highest suicide rate in the US is Wyoming, with 23.2 suicides per 100,000. The lowest is D.C. with 6.8 suicides per 100,000. The next lowest is New York State, with 8 per 100,000.

So the best possible suicide rate in the US, Washington D.C. is still more than 4x higher than the suicide rate at Foxconn. But keep focusing on those nets.

Also, lmgtfy is banned on MMOC because using it is douchy and condescending. It's especially ironic when you use it to try to make a point that's wrong. And if I'm discussing suicide statistics at Foxconn with people on these forums, do you honestly think I'm unaware of those nets?

[Xires]

I would certainly say that less humans are "needed" eventually.
Humanity will have a lot of dead weight it has to carry around the coming century.

It already does. We see them protesting/rioting all the time for free shit.

[Tyrianth]

Humanity isn't threatened by robots; capitalism is. Robots are being used to replace humans in situations where a human can't be humanely and affordably employed. That's a good thing if you want affordable goods and food. It's a good thing if you want humans relieved of dangerous and inhumane working conditions. It's a bad thing if your people have to work for food and shelter, because the opportunity to work bottom rung shit jobs is what automation will cost us.

You can't stop the bastards making robots. It'd be against the interests of humanity to stop the bastards making robots anyway. So maybe we need to take a hard look at the fact that humanity is on the verge of advancing past the point at which having to work for a living makes sense. The only reason full employment is a goal (that nobody has ever reached, by-the-bye,) is because we need to create opportunities for everyone to earn a living. We don't need them to work; we need them to have some means of support. So instead of manufacturing a need for them to do something, maybe we ought to just manufacture a system that supports them without goading them into jobs a machine could do at less expense.

I agree with your sentiment, but I do think humanity is threatened. Only because some people refuse to look a few years into the future and plan ahead. They prefer to shove their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge potential risks and take the necessary steps to mitigate them. Hopefully the worlds politicians are smarter than some of the posters on this forum or else the future will be bleak with record unemployment rates and crime.

[Teebone]

Thanks Obama for inventing Robots.

Dem dam democraps, first theyz invents der interwebs from Al Gore now Olabama takes away our gunz to make robutts! *spits* not in my backyard little missy! No sir!

[Ornerybear]

good automate shit. reduce costs, increase efficiency. People will just learn to do something else. this is nothing new, we've been replacing manpower with technology since forever.

[Vash The Stampede]

Maybe this is more of a wake up call to stop breeding than it is about losing Jobs.

We need to cut this Worlds population by a good 50% over the next 25 years.

Excellent idea. We'll start with you. Choose the blue pill or red pill. BTW, both pills are the same, I'm just giving you the illusion of choice.

[Kaganfindel]

You realize that this means genocide right? Is that what you're advocating? Just want to make sure I understand you.

I believe that he's advocating less breeding, as opposed to more killing. That might amount to genocide in societies where the old people must rely on their own offspring for support, but again it boils down to that whole "work or starve" thing.

[AlphaOut]

I guess it's time for people to learn a trade or a valuable skill that can't easily be replaced by a robot. It's better in the long term. Increasing the expectations of ability one has to have a place in the future of our workforce is better. However, I recognize some people rather have a basic mind numbing job and are content with living in poverty. But honestly, who didn't see this coming?

[melodramocracy]

This could be the alternative if we had a different economic system: "Robots usher in new age of leisure by taking on much of the repetitive manual labor formerly performed by humans."

Capitalism still depends heavily on people to be wage slaves, and that's the big problem with all of this.

- - - Updated - - -

your new job is not to have children you will be paid by the government a weekly amount not to have children
you will be able to live your life and enjoy basic things nothing expensive (without working)

the end

You can already do that, but you're considered a blight on the economy as a welfare recipient. Good luck getting society to change their minds on that. Better yet, good luck watching local, state, and federal authorities suddenly find themselves sorely lacking in tax revenue.