Multiple headlines have been issued in recent weeks regarding The Robots Are Coming and the content of the articles related how Foxconn in China will replace sixty thousand workers out of an unknown total. Their replacements will be some type of robot.
The CEO of McDonald's has said it may be cheaper to replace some unknown percentage of workers with robots. Other similar headlines have been issued as well for plants or processes in which human workers will be or are now being replaced by robot analogs.
The Robots Are Coming is the frantic cry but, in fact, they are and complaining is pointless since the jobs they take suck anyway. I'm sure it's your dream to assemble bits for an iPhone all day long only to look back with such a satisfied smile at how many times you did the same thing over and over and over.
The jobs will be replaced and the number of people displaced by it without comparable employment opportunities elsewhere will progressively rise. The trend is clear so the question is what will you do about it when a substantial percentage of the working population is unemployed and has no chance for rehiring because the jobs don't exist anymore.
There are problems in the increasing disparity between rich and not rich and problem as has been reviewed in studies of increased social dysfunction as one specific consequence. It therefore behooves a society which chooses to remain healthy over a long term to find some equalizing mechanism which is agreeable foremost to the health of the society and is as equitable as possible in its management. Right now it is not at all healthy and the situation will inevitably increase and exacerbate due to predictable robotic displacement of human workers.
You don't believe it?
Consider use of Artificial Intelligence in call centers with all the miles of cubicles with humans tucked inside in their Telephone Matrix. They deal with callers with any number of bizarre considerations but the ability of computers to understand speech and process it has increased enormously as it's not a difficult thing to imagine the existing push button dialogs with call centers to continue evolving to absorb even the ones staffed by humans. That alone is a huge work force and what will do they do to continue since the corporation can't absorb them, too expensive.
Like it or no, it's coming. We believe the most equitable way to resolve the situation when there's truly nothing for these people to do is to create a universal income and for a number of reasons.
- It keeps the peace because a more equitable distribution of wealth mitigates social dysfunction
- It's productive because we spend every dime we get and the economy loves us for it
- A healthy economy needs consumers and we buy the consumer crap the super rich people don't even need or probably even want ... but we do and if we have the jingle jack then we buy it
- It's karmic goodness in a world which is in sore need of it
Those are general things but all of them are true in total nevertheless. The bigger question from all these displaced people is not so much providing a universal income since there really won't be a choice or risk them getting feisty and tearing down the whole shooting match. The bigger question is what will they do when they're reasonably pleased with life and all know if they believe you have what it takes to go to University then go for it but we will expect them to attend school in any case to learn about Life, the Universe, and Everything or at least some minimal preparation for what it means to be an adult.
After that, then what. For the ones who do not go on to University or to be Master Craftsman of some nature, Artists or Wizards, or any such specialty, what will they do. Some may think they will languish, blowing reefer and watching The Three Stooges all day but it's rubbish. I'm stoned all the time and the only thing holding me back from anything is physical. Even so, some or many will choose not to smoke the ganja so what will they do.
Sports could get even more gigantic than now but that carries the risk of "Rollerball" and carnivorous sport because perhaps life means less for a great many people when there isn't the traditional future of working a boring job from a house in the suburbs or some such.
Anything beyond a five-year plan is usually dismissed as sci-fi but there's strong need for such thinking and beyond "Ex Machina" when it asks if humans can fall in love with robots. We don't fookin' care as what we really want to see is humans falling in love with each other.
See above about karmic goodness in a world which is in sore need of it.
Peace
The CEO of McDonald's has said it may be cheaper to replace some unknown percentage of workers with robots. Other similar headlines have been issued as well for plants or processes in which human workers will be or are now being replaced by robot analogs.
The Robots Are Coming is the frantic cry but, in fact, they are and complaining is pointless since the jobs they take suck anyway. I'm sure it's your dream to assemble bits for an iPhone all day long only to look back with such a satisfied smile at how many times you did the same thing over and over and over.
The jobs will be replaced and the number of people displaced by it without comparable employment opportunities elsewhere will progressively rise. The trend is clear so the question is what will you do about it when a substantial percentage of the working population is unemployed and has no chance for rehiring because the jobs don't exist anymore.
There are problems in the increasing disparity between rich and not rich and problem as has been reviewed in studies of increased social dysfunction as one specific consequence. It therefore behooves a society which chooses to remain healthy over a long term to find some equalizing mechanism which is agreeable foremost to the health of the society and is as equitable as possible in its management. Right now it is not at all healthy and the situation will inevitably increase and exacerbate due to predictable robotic displacement of human workers.
You don't believe it?
Consider use of Artificial Intelligence in call centers with all the miles of cubicles with humans tucked inside in their Telephone Matrix. They deal with callers with any number of bizarre considerations but the ability of computers to understand speech and process it has increased enormously as it's not a difficult thing to imagine the existing push button dialogs with call centers to continue evolving to absorb even the ones staffed by humans. That alone is a huge work force and what will do they do to continue since the corporation can't absorb them, too expensive.
Like it or no, it's coming. We believe the most equitable way to resolve the situation when there's truly nothing for these people to do is to create a universal income and for a number of reasons.
- It keeps the peace because a more equitable distribution of wealth mitigates social dysfunction
- It's productive because we spend every dime we get and the economy loves us for it
- A healthy economy needs consumers and we buy the consumer crap the super rich people don't even need or probably even want ... but we do and if we have the jingle jack then we buy it
- It's karmic goodness in a world which is in sore need of it
Those are general things but all of them are true in total nevertheless. The bigger question from all these displaced people is not so much providing a universal income since there really won't be a choice or risk them getting feisty and tearing down the whole shooting match. The bigger question is what will they do when they're reasonably pleased with life and all know if they believe you have what it takes to go to University then go for it but we will expect them to attend school in any case to learn about Life, the Universe, and Everything or at least some minimal preparation for what it means to be an adult.
After that, then what. For the ones who do not go on to University or to be Master Craftsman of some nature, Artists or Wizards, or any such specialty, what will they do. Some may think they will languish, blowing reefer and watching The Three Stooges all day but it's rubbish. I'm stoned all the time and the only thing holding me back from anything is physical. Even so, some or many will choose not to smoke the ganja so what will they do.
Sports could get even more gigantic than now but that carries the risk of "Rollerball" and carnivorous sport because perhaps life means less for a great many people when there isn't the traditional future of working a boring job from a house in the suburbs or some such.
Anything beyond a five-year plan is usually dismissed as sci-fi but there's strong need for such thinking and beyond "Ex Machina" when it asks if humans can fall in love with robots. We don't fookin' care as what we really want to see is humans falling in love with each other.
See above about karmic goodness in a world which is in sore need of it.
Peace
2 comments:
We will adapt. Humans have proven themselves to be very adaptable creatures. The question is how quickly. It is obvious that those who quickly adapt to the tremendous technological changes ahead will benefit the most. A universal wage may be necessary but will only be pacification for those who don't or are slow to adapt. UH!
I'm sure humans can adapt to just about anything but it's the ability of the economy to adapt to a radical change in lifestyles which looks close to inevitable. I'm sure it can but the question is will it. I really don't really a universal wage is pacification as the robotization can easily consume a tremendous number of low-end jobs and it's not sci-fi when we can see that happening in the news.
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