Czernobog
Gold Member
Four years ago some researches at MIT quietly put out a quaint little report, that was largely ignored by...well...everyone, that in the next 20 years 45% of America's occupations would be automated. Now take a minute to let that soak in. Forty-five. Percent. Damned. Near. Half.
In the US, there are currently:
Add to that nearly 1 million Truck Drivers. According to several companies, we are literally one to three years away from fully automated, self-driving vehicles. Once you can make a single $30,000 retrofit to make your truck, or cab driverless, rather than pay a $40,000/year salary for a driver, we are going to see a fleet of out of work Uber, taxi, bus, and truck drivers.
If that doesn't give you pause, consider that we already have robots, that can do the work of an entire compliment of warehouse workers:
Then there is Amazon Go, where customers come in, get what they want, and check out, all without ever, once, having to deal with the unpleasant annoyance of actually having to speak to anyone, because everything is automated. There is no reason to believe that this will not become the model for retail.
The examples go on, and on.
I am a product of the 21st Century. I like my techno-toys. And I do not want to be a luddite, and suggest that we need to muzzle, or leash science, technology, or discovery. But, I am genuinely concerned, and am wondering what are we to do, as our technology begins to replace our labour?
Are we moving into a society where we have to begin to rethink our economy? I mean for most of us the formula has been pretty simple: You work. You collect your pay. You buy shit. But, as technology begins to advance to a place where it eradicates the first expression in that equation, then is it necessary to find a new formula? And if so, what does that new formula look like?
In the US, there are currently:
Add to that nearly 1 million Truck Drivers. According to several companies, we are literally one to three years away from fully automated, self-driving vehicles. Once you can make a single $30,000 retrofit to make your truck, or cab driverless, rather than pay a $40,000/year salary for a driver, we are going to see a fleet of out of work Uber, taxi, bus, and truck drivers.
If that doesn't give you pause, consider that we already have robots, that can do the work of an entire compliment of warehouse workers:
Then there is Amazon Go, where customers come in, get what they want, and check out, all without ever, once, having to deal with the unpleasant annoyance of actually having to speak to anyone, because everything is automated. There is no reason to believe that this will not become the model for retail.
The examples go on, and on.
I am a product of the 21st Century. I like my techno-toys. And I do not want to be a luddite, and suggest that we need to muzzle, or leash science, technology, or discovery. But, I am genuinely concerned, and am wondering what are we to do, as our technology begins to replace our labour?
Are we moving into a society where we have to begin to rethink our economy? I mean for most of us the formula has been pretty simple: You work. You collect your pay. You buy shit. But, as technology begins to advance to a place where it eradicates the first expression in that equation, then is it necessary to find a new formula? And if so, what does that new formula look like?