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The bots are coming for you, buddie.

Started by the_antithesis, August 16, 2014, 11:24:51 AM

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the_antithesis



For those who can't see, a cute little video about how robots are pretty much going to replace humans in every field. They can and will because they don't have to be perfect, just better than us, which isn't hard.

Hydra009

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Automation isn't necessarily a bad thing - it's not the end of the world and never was.  And humans have generally benefited from it in the long run.  What is worrisome is that we have an economic system that might not be able to cope with these changes.  Perhaps a politician bot...

SGOS

Quote from: Hydra009 on August 16, 2014, 12:57:22 PM
I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.
You might as well, because trying to resist is futile.  There will be a great robot rapture too.  It's going to be great.

PickelledEggs

Who wants to work a monotonous job anyway?

That is the stuff that drives a person nuts...

Hydra009

Quote from: PickelledEggs on August 17, 2014, 01:34:06 AM
Who wants to work a monotonous job anyway?

That is the stuff that drives a person nuts...
Before automation:


Johan

Quote from: PickelledEggs on August 17, 2014, 01:34:06 AM
Who wants to work a monotonous job anyway?
People who want to feed themselves and their families and have no other viable employment options nor any other marketable job skills. That's who. There are LOTS of people who fit this description.

I work in trucking and I've been seeing the writing on the wall since the first time I read about google's self driving car. It is not a matter of if the trucks will drive themselves one day thereby eliminating the need for truck drivers, its a question of when.

Part of my role in my current job is recruiting, finding new drivers and getting them in our door. As a company, we have no shortage of freight to move and no shortage of capital available to acquire new equipment to move the freight with. The one and only thing limiting the growth of our company is available qualified drivers. And my company is not unique in this respect. Every trucking company in the country is experiencing the same predicament.

We just raised our salaries last month. Major trucking companies all over the country are doing the same one by one. That's great for drivers in the near term. But it illustrates just how much of a hinderance drivers are to the growth and profitability of a company. And this is without even mentioning any of the other costs and liabilities drivers bring to the table. Walmart is almost certainly going to have to write a multi-million dollar check before that Tracy Morgan deal is done and that obviously never would have happened with a self driving truck because self driving trucks won't ever get sleepy. I have absolutely no doubt that the moment driverless trucks become available, companies will move to them in droves.

But that's just trucking which is only one industry. But I've also seen the writing on the wall in lots of other industries. I was a driver up until this year. As a driver I spent time on lots of loading docks at manufacturing facilities and manufacturing warehouses. There are those that are still doing things the old school way using lots of people for every task.  But I've also been to huge facilities right here in Michigan that now use lots of technology and about six people to achieve productivity numbers which used to require about forty people without technology.

The bottom line is gist of this video is spot on. We are at a point where most of us within our lifetimes will see about of 50% of currently existing job titles eliminated or nearly so. There will be no such thing as a truck driver. Segments of manufacturing which currently require hundreds of people will be done with fewer than ten.

Yes we will see other areas of the labor market grow because of these changes. Someone will have to fix all those machines. Someone will have to inspect and insure that all of those driverless trucks are road worthy and likely to remain roadworthy at the beginning of every trip. But this growth will only offset a small fraction of the loss of the labor market that we're inevitably going to see. I'm sure the scales will find a way to settle out eventually. But I think the economy is going to have to change dramatically before that happens and lots of people will lose everything in the process.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful

PickelledEggs

Quote from: Johan on August 17, 2014, 11:42:22 AM
People who want to feed themselves and their families and have no other viable employment options nor any other marketable job skills. That's who. There are LOTS of people who fit this description.

I work in trucking and I've been seeing the writing on the wall since the first time I read about google's self driving car. It is not a matter of if the trucks will drive themselves one day thereby eliminating the need for truck drivers, its a question of when.

Part of my role in my current job is recruiting, finding new drivers and getting them in our door. As a company, we have no shortage of freight to move and no shortage of capital available to acquire new equipment to move the freight with. The one and only thing limiting the growth of our company is available qualified drivers. And my company is not unique in this respect. Every trucking company in the country is experiencing the same predicament.

We just raised our salaries last month. Major trucking companies all over the country are doing the same one by one. That's great for drivers in the near term. But it illustrates just how much of a hinderance drivers are to the growth and profitability of a company. And this is without even mentioning any of the other costs and liabilities drivers bring to the table. Walmart is almost certainly going to have to write a multi-million dollar check before that Tracy Morgan deal is done and that obviously never would have happened with a self driving truck because self driving trucks won't ever get sleepy. I have absolutely no doubt that the moment driverless trucks become available, companies will move to them in droves.

But that's just trucking which is only one industry. But I've also seen the writing on the wall in lots of other industries. I was a driver up until this year. As a driver I spent time on lots of loading docks at manufacturing facilities and manufacturing warehouses. There are those that are still doing things the old school way using lots of people for every task.  But I've also been to huge facilities right here in Michigan that now use lots of technology and about six people to achieve productivity numbers which used to require about forty people without technology.

The bottom line is gist of this video is spot on. We are at a point where most of us within our lifetimes will see about of 50% of currently existing job titles eliminated or nearly so. There will be no such thing as a truck driver. Segments of manufacturing which currently require hundreds of people will be done with fewer than ten.

Yes we will see other areas of the labor market grow because of these changes. Someone will have to fix all those machines. Someone will have to inspect and insure that all of those driverless trucks are road worthy and likely to remain roadworthy at the beginning of every trip. But this growth will only offset a small fraction of the loss of the labor market that we're inevitably going to see. I'm sure the scales will find a way to settle out eventually. But I think the economy is going to have to change dramatically before that happens and lots of people will lose everything in the process.
That's a good point. And I'm sure there are people that enjoy doing that stuff. I even have a friend that drives a truck and he loves it.

Sent from your mom


Hydra009

Quote from: Johan on August 17, 2014, 11:42:22 AMThe bottom line is gist of this video is spot on. We are at a point where most of us within our lifetimes will see about of 50% of currently existing job titles eliminated or nearly so. There will be no such thing as a truck driver. Segments of manufacturing which currently require hundreds of people will be done with fewer than ten.
That may be true, but this is hardly a novel argument.  Plus, the agriculture, textiles, and manufacturing sectors have all been through several phases of technological unemployment.  Hell, even recently, online ordering has really hit brick-and-mortar retailers hard.  Space exploration, espionage, and military operations are increasingly done by machines not people.  Yet we do not live in a jobless dystopia.

Johan

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful

Hydra009


the_antithesis

Quote from: PickelledEggs on August 17, 2014, 01:34:06 AM
Who wants to work a monotonous job anyway?


It's not just the monotonous jobs that the bots are coming after. It's pretty much all of them.

Johan

Quote from: Hydra009 on August 17, 2014, 12:59:26 PM
The end is always nigh.
Its not about the end being nigh. It won't be the end. The structure of the economy will have to change and it will. And we will survive and life will probably be better for all once the dust settles. But that paradigm shift in our economic structure won't be painless or easy and I fear that lots of people will be chewed up and spit out in process.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful

the_antithesis

Quote from: Johan on August 17, 2014, 02:04:32 PM
Its not about the end being nigh. It won't be the end. The structure of the economy will have to change and it will. And we will survive and life will probably be better for all once the dust settles. But that paradigm shift in our economic structure won't be painless or easy and I fear that lots of people will be chewed up and spit out in process.

And we're all made of tabbaccy.

Makes me glad I'm middle aged. I'll likely be dead before this gets too terrible.

Good luck, kids.

SGOS

Quote from: the_antithesis on August 17, 2014, 02:25:28 PM
And we're all made of tabbaccy.

Makes me glad I'm middle aged. I'll likely be dead before this gets too terrible.

You will likely be buried by a robot undertaker, who will help your family pick out the most expensive coffin, and who will visibly mourn your passing to your next of kin.  He'll also be glad to have met you, but wish it could have been under better circumstances.