Warehouse Robots Improve Efficiency by 800%; How Will Workers Survive in this Future?

[JimBowie1958]

This is an example of how the Third Industrial or Digital Revolution is making human labor obsolete. How will working class people survive with 90% unemployment rates? How will conservatives adjust their rhetoric to survive? Will we see socialism take over both parties?

These warehouse robots can boost productivity by 800%

Dear JimBowie1958 and Tipsycatlover
Let's look at what work NEEDS to get done, and imagine training workers to do THOSE jobs.

Do we need more medical schools to turn out service providers to serve more communities?
What about building campuses in every district of every state to teach
people to manage their own businesses, govt, finances and legal affairs?

How much construction, how much management will this take?
What about converting sweatshops and prisons into work study programs
and service facilities?

Do we need military bases along all borders, and create jobs for veterans there
such as guarding prison facilities or running the post office (so even if the govt
post office loses money, it is still creating jobs for veterans if they are put in charge of
revamping the post office, the VA, or anything else that needs to reduce loss or waste)

Do we need to clean up environment damage?
Restore landmarks, historic sites, endangered species such as destroyed by the Gulf Spill?

Where is the work needed to plan towards a sustainable economy and education/training system?
Why can't we start preparing for that, and set up training for different levels of work and management.
And let people start choosing what track they want to be on, and how high up they want to train.

Yes, I agree that more niche work will continue for a long time, but the economy will drive these jobs into part time status mostly and eventually people will only work them as long as they need the extra cash as they stop thinking in terms of careers and start thinking in terms of barter and trade for necessities.

But what happens to government tax revenues?

What happens to the consumer market as jobs shrink to a small fragment of our economic work force?

What happens in transition as people have greater and greater difficulty finding work? Will we see huge spikes in crime? Will we see a return to dominance of socialism? (Hint: yes, we will)

The future has become much more, shall we say, interesting.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Warehouse Robots Improve Efficiency by 800%; How Will Workers Survive in this Future?

I dunno...

... mebbe by gettin' a job inna robot factory...

... an' buildin' the robots?

Which works great until robots can do those jobs as well, making themselves.

 

[JimBowie1958]

More leisure time?

No. Americans are working harder than ever, and we are more and more productive as technology advances.

Is Technology Killing Leisure Time? - Slashdot

This is a 'local maximum' as the transition toward robotics and automation hits a sweet spot where there is still a large number of other Americans who still work and have jobs.

But as automation and the abilities of robots increase, more jobs are lost to human labor and we enter a downward spiral of more automation leading to -> fewer jobs and fewer jobs leads to -> less Middle Class which is less able to fight the further automation of the work force which leads to -> more short term profits for corporations who then re-invest into -> more automation.

This spiral can be delayed and humanized more but it cannot be stopped. Eventually we will have little need for currency and we may see huge tidal waves of inflation, social anarchy and riots that destroy entire cities, not just sections of them. Sort of like Shake and Bake Detroits in one week.

Hopefully wiser heads will see the dangers and take appropriate actions, but to be able to do anything the control of corporations on our political system must be broken.

 

[pwjohn]

The maintenance crews in these so called robots warehouses are still quite large. Throw in refrigerated warehouses and the maintenance crews grow even larger.

And the pay tends to be pretty good if you're strong in motor controls, energy management and refrigeration.

40 an hour or so plus very liberal benefits. Stock options like 3 for 1 and so on. Don't bother applying if you're afraid of heights.

In the early stages of the Digital Revolution, some jobs will be created to maintain the automated production/service robots will do. But these jobs will not be equal in number to the jobs lost due to automation. And eventually these maintenance jobs and more specialized jobs will also become automated.

In the long run, jobs will become very scarce and the human economy will shift more and more toward self sufficiency via three avenues; self production, community specialization/sharing and barter.

Certainly your comment is informative but some forms of warehousing, such as produce, for example, may never be a viable choice for rbotics. And for obvious reasons. And, up front front costs are still a huge drag on automation beyond where we're at now, in many cases.

 

[Godboy]

If no one has jobs and no money to buy anything, what are the robots making? Something no one can buy?

It will balance out.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Certainly your comment is informative but some forms of warehousing, such as produce, for example, may never be a viable choice for rbotics. And for obvious reasons. And, up front front costs are still a huge drag on automation beyond where we're at now, in many cases.

Yeah, I think that there will always be a small percentage of jobs that cannot cost effectively automate, but what I have read estimates such jobs at from 1 to 15% of the working age population, so we are talking about unemployment eventually around 90%

That will be a very rough transition to something very different than what we see today.

 

[JimBowie1958]

If no one has jobs and no money to buy anything, what are the robots making? Something no one can buy?

It will balance out.

The will make things that the employed can buy, that other Digital corporations can buy and for other automated processes and on demand.

Robots can work 24/7 but they dont have to.

 

[Two Thumbs]

The maintenance crews in these so called robots warehouses are still quite large. Throw in refrigerated warehouses and the maintenance crews grow even larger.

And the pay tends to be pretty good if you're strong in motor controls, energy management and refrigeration.

40 an hour or so plus very liberal benefits. Stock options like 3 for 1 and so on. Don't bother applying if you're afraid of heights.

No they aren't.

seriously, that's :rof:

Your writing skills are non existent. Try smoke signals next time.

I'm right, but my grammar sucks, so you think you win.


try calling me a racist or a nazi next time

 

[ClosedCaption]

B b b but I thought this was only about burger flippers!

Silly fucks

 

[JimBowie1958]

B b b but I thought this was only about burger flippers!

Silly fucks

This is about almost every job that currently employs people.

It is going to reach crisis proportions if we dont meet it ahead of time. We have to reinforce the social safety net and conservatives dont seem to want to even discuss it, at all. But the time is coming when they risk branding themselves obstructionists, working against the well being of the American people if they dont wise up fast.

 

[bripat9643]

The maintenance crews in these so called robots warehouses are still quite large. Throw in refrigerated warehouses and the maintenance crews grow even larger.

And the pay tends to be pretty good if you're strong in motor controls, energy management and refrigeration.

40 an hour or so plus very liberal benefits. Stock options like 3 for 1 and so on. Don't bother applying if you're afraid of heights.

Which will last until maintenance is performed by maintenance robots.

What we're discussing here is called "the singularity," which is the day that computers become smarter than human beings and take over the world. There won't be any task that computers/robots won't be able to do, and do it far better than a human.

 

[bripat9643]

Robots are coming no matter what. Potentially, they could be handed out to every human on the planet to do everything for them and humans will never have to want for anything ever again! We can then spend all of our time trying to invent new things, on leisure activities, or, well, whatever the hell we want!

But probably, some asshole will make robots kill us all.

The real questions is, that once computers become so much smarter than humans that they seem godlike to mere mortals, they will control the world. What will the computers want? We won't have control of the situation at that point.

 

[EverCurious]

Pfft, I know dogs that are smarter than half the people I meet, at least the computer can be shut off...

 

[Asclepias]

The maintenance crews in these so called robots warehouses are still quite large. Throw in refrigerated warehouses and the maintenance crews grow even larger.

And the pay tends to be pretty good if you're strong in motor controls, energy management and refrigeration.

40 an hour or so plus very liberal benefits. Stock options like 3 for 1 and so on. Don't bother applying if you're afraid of heights.

Which will last until maintenance is performed by maintenance robots.

What we're discussing here is called "the singularity," which is the day that computers become smarter than human beings and take over the world. There won't be any task that computers/robots won't be able to do, and do it far better than a human.

That will never happen. A computer can only do what it was programmed for. All its doing is reading binary code that a human compiled since it cant think for itself.

 

[EverCurious]

Tis true, and someone is going to have to program those robots. It'll be revenge of the geeks time.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Honest answer here.

We will get into the business of selling an experience. Prostitution for one. Lots more adult sports leagues. Entertainment since there will be so much more down time. And selling shit. If the warehouses are in operation....someone is buying stuff.

But also...I can see food shortages and wars coming before all that, which will lower the population.

Why would you see food shortages? We already overproduce the food needed for all people. And our production is increasing by the day. Chile and Mexico have both modernized agriculture to the point that they have output rates consistent with the USA. We have an abundance of food on this planet.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Robots are coming no matter what. Potentially, they could be handed out to every human on the planet to do everything for them and humans will never have to want for anything ever again! We can then spend all of our time trying to invent new things, on leisure activities, or, well, whatever the hell we want!

But probably, some asshole will make robots kill us all.

Robots are already here, have been since the 60's

Fear is the one constant to the reaction of people to change. In the 60's there was a fear of computers, now there isn't anyone who will leave their house without their computer (cell phone). Kids wonder how people functioned without texting and GPS, or Wikipedia.

Automation is nothing to fear, it makes life better for all people. There will be some growing pains, there always are, but life gets better.

 

[Asclepias]

Tis true, and someone is going to have to program those robots. It'll be revenge of the geeks time.

Wait until you see the implications of nano technology. That is actually scary.

 

[Uncensored2008]

What we're discussing here is called "the singularity," which is the day that computers become smarter than human beings and take over the world. There won't be any task that computers/robots won't be able to do, and do it far better than a human.

Computers will never be "smart."

We create ever more sophisticated applications, but the reality is that intelligence from a computer will never happen. We can develop applications that adapt to conditions, but only only predetermined parameters. What cannot be programmed into binary computers is curiosity. It is for this reason that intelligence is an impossibility, regardless of how clever programers are at emulating it. Intelligence in machines is always an illusion, and always will be.

 

[dilloduck]

The maintenance crews in these so called robots warehouses are still quite large. Throw in refrigerated warehouses and the maintenance crews grow even larger.

And the pay tends to be pretty good if you're strong in motor controls, energy management and refrigeration.

40 an hour or so plus very liberal benefits. Stock options like 3 for 1 and so on. Don't bother applying if you're afraid of heights.

Which will last until maintenance is performed by maintenance robots.

What we're discussing here is called "the singularity," which is the day that computers become smarter than human beings and take over the world. There won't be any task that computers/robots won't be able to do, and do it far better than a human.

That will never happen. A computer can only do what it was programmed for. All its doing is reading binary code that a human compiled since it cant think for itself.

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