Automation

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

It's been estimated that 50% of jobs will be taken by machines by 2040 and we're going to have a large populace of people who won't have any jobs and can't make any money. People are pushing for a socialist economy where everyone gets a basic income for doing nothing just to scrape by with, but we've all seen what socialism has done to places like Venezuela, the citizens of which have resorted to using Bitcoin to replace their shitty, inflated, oil-and-gas exclusive currency, to the point where people roam the streets looking for dogs to beat to death so they can eat it.

It used to be that genius was in service to all people, but now it's muscling out the average person and as predicted, only geniuses will have a job in the future. It also doesn't help that poor people procreate the most, inflating a populace of uneducated people. With a constantly inflating populace mixed with a constantly dwindling workforce, what will happen in the future when automation starts successfully replacing people at their jobs? What about when it reaches its apex, will people rebel against the machine menace and take their jobs back by force or will we end up eating each other and our pets?

To this day, we see people living in old towns that once serviced factories that have become part of the rust belt, resulting in these towns crumbling with their inhabitants scraping by on collecting cans. No longer are they serviced by grocery stores, but have to buy everything of theirs out of the back of cars.

It doesn't end with menial labor, people have already developed tech specifically for creating music and art from scratch in the style of whoever you want so there's nothing too unique that it can't be replaced by a computer.

 

[ICametoLurk]

good

 

[King_Scrotus]

The answer that people are seeking right now is Universal Basic Income, basically a flat check to every citizen just for being alive. though personally I always favored the idea of discouraging automation by taxing the everloving fuck out of robotics. In the end though, that may just lead to companies relocating to places where said taxes don't exist, if this isn't some UN decreed thing.

I don't like the idea of UBI. I think, maybe pessimistically, that people are inherently lazy. They have what they need just to live, and they will stick with that safety rather than going out and getting educations (especially with the god awful college tuition rates these days) or otherwise striving to learn a craft and work at something. And the fact that it will lead to finacial safety to promote overpopulation. Though UBI on a level of say, the United States seems unsustainable anyway.

 

[Steve Mayers]

There's already in some instances low level automation and has been for years. Some of these examples you see in your every day life. The self service kiosk at your local grocery store is an example of low level automation.

 

[ES 148]

Soon we will automate shitposts, and us Kiwis will be out of business.

 

[Enclave Supremacy]

More people, more socialism, less jobs and even attempts to retain jobs will just result in manufacture moving abroad, rising prices. How long is it before office drones, accountants and other such people can be replaced by algorithms (as I assume it is already pretty close) with just a couple of human caretakers?

From my experience at work in industry there's a lot of stuff that cannot be automated and will require human operation forever. But there's a lot of people going to be out of work who probably won't be able to retrain.

Maybe there isn't a solution OP and we're all just fucked. We will be under the current model of things.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

I always favored the idea of discouraging automation by taxing the everloving fuck out of robotics. In the end though, that may just lead to companies relocating to places where said taxes don't exist, if this isn't some UN decreed thing.

I like this idea, it could be similar to what was done during the 1950's. Although, we'd have to have something that would incentivize them to stay on US property so they wouldn't flee like you said.

 

[Enclave Supremacy]

I like this idea, it could be similar to what was done during the 1950's. Although, we'd have to have something that would incentivize them to stay on US property so they wouldn't flee like you said.

A refusal or blocking to innovate your manufacturing processes will still cost. Either in public spending to try and subsidise traditional labour or when your out-competed by other countries that don't protect their traditional manufacturing jobs from automated practices, everyone gets made redundant and then you have to pay for their welfare.

Might as-well automate to keep the economy at home and keep some people in work rather than taking the Venezuelan option of not investing in your industrial infrastructure.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

A refusal or blocking to innovate your manufacturing processes will still cost. Either in public spending to try and subsidise traditional labour or when your out-competed by other countries that don't protect their traditional manufacturing jobs from automated practices, everyone gets made redundant and then you have to pay for their welfare.

Might as-well automate to keep the economy at home and keep some people in work rather than taking the Venezuelan option of not investing in your industrial infrastructure.

Yes, that is true. Many of the companies that have turned to using it are ones that were on the verge of collapsing anyway and they retained jobs for some of the people working for them rather than losing all the jobs for everybody. It unfortunately still doesn't answer what we're going to do with our overgrowing populace in a bottleneck job market, either the economy collapses or the populace does.

 

[cuddle striker]

good. bring on the dancing robots.

let's start up that Chinese one-child policy while we're at it, head on over to mincome and all the social safety nets, and let robots do the grunt work.
if you don't breed, and you pass yearly exams for addictions/general, controllable health issues, then feel free to watch TV and do nothing else until the end of time.

there are some skills you can't automate and so some people will always have work to do, others can either invent new things to do, or just slack. you can't automate my jobs so it is fine by me if everyone just sits around.

we'll have more cows, too.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I think it's going to come down to a crossroads: universal income or restrictions on what jobs can be automated. I'm hoping for the latter.

you can't automate my jobs

Any job can be automated when AI is sufficiently advanced.

 

[Overcast]

The idea of large populations of people being outright replaced by machines in the working world is pretty unsettling.

Hopefully people aren't short sighted enough to let this happen.

I can get the appeal of wanting to limit the number of people you have to pay to maintain your business, but at the same time there should be some kind of line that should never be crossed.

 

[Trilby]

The idea of large populations of people being outright replaced by machines in the working world is pretty unsettling.

Hopefully people aren't short sighted enough to let this happen.

I can get the appeal of wanting to limit the number of people you have to pay to maintain your business, but at the same time there should be some kind of line that should never be crossed.

I think about these things every day. This short film from the 60's is one example!

 

[cuddle striker]

probably, but I'd still find new ways to occupy myself. I like to work.

Any job can be automated when AI is sufficiently advanced.

 

[Picklepower]

Once all those people are put out of work, (assuming there is no gov assistance) suicide will be the best answer, a bullet will be a fucking gift.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

Once all those people are put out of work, (assuming there is no gov assistance) suicide will be the best answer, a bullet will be a fucking gift.

It begs the question of who the robots will even be selling their wares to, they'll eventually defeat their own purpose. There's no point in mass producing a product for a market that doesn't exist. I expect robberies and other crime rates to skyrocket.

 

[Sergeant Politeness]

My side wants to say that people won't let it get that far. Revolution always follows mass unemployment. Trump was elected by people who don't have jobs and can't feed their families. And why can't they? Aside from jobs being shipped overseas, automation. People are lazy and likely won't reject all the shiny new robots directly crowding them out of the job market, but I'd hope so. There's gotta be a limit somewhere.

I'm reminded of It is as if you were doing work, which is a menial office job simulator set in a future of 95% unemployment. You're given stupidly simple tasks and constantly validated and promoted for doing so. Given that there are literally fake offices cropping up in Europe because people don't have enough real shit to do, it's probably more prescient than it seems.

 

[Sperglord Dante]

I'm gonna ask a simple question to those of you who feel people will reject automation:

when you go to a convenience store, do you ever stop to ponder if your bag of chips was packed by a robot or by a group of people in an assembly line? do you? would you pay an extra dime if it was man-made?

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

JOBS THAT CAN NOT BE REPLACED BY ROBOTS:

Porn. Unless you're a sick fuck like homer who jacks it to vidya.

 

[ICametoLurk]

I, For One, Welcome Our New Nazi Robot Overlords