It will be different. Some will like it better than others. There are no jobs in this country ,and some others , for kids working in coal mines anymore. And that's good. Even if some spend too much time watching screens.
It will be different. Some will like it better than others. There are no jobs in this country ,and some others , for kids working in coal mines anymore. And that's good. Even if some spend too much time watching screens.
I don't think it's quite that dystopian. I think it's more like a game of musical chairs where there will be some chairs eliminated, but there will always be chairs. Specifically jobs that are more based on judgement and/or specialized skills versus those based on repetitive tasks. I don't see technology taking the place of professionals like accountants, lawyers, engineers, architects, software and hardware developers. What about direct health care providers like nurses, physical therapists, physicians, dentists, chiropractors? How about service providers like cosmetologists, chefs, building trades? What about most anything in the entertainment industry for those that have the creative or performing talent? If I were advising a young person today, I would tell them to think strategically about a career choice with a consideration on technology displacement. I would think being a robotics engineer would be an excellent career choice! Plus there are always new developing fields. Was there such a thing as a software engineer in 1975?
It's sad that there will be losers, but when has that not been the case in history? A lot of people thought the industrial revolution and specifically the Ford assembly line, would bring about the end of society. It's just an ever changing landscape but there will always be opportunities.
Last edited by Edwin Santos; 01-22-2018 at 12:40 AM.
I would like to offer two stories that may add light to the subject. The first one is about Sam's Wholesale Club. We have been regular shoppers for many years. Just lately, the customer service has gotten much worse. The checkout lanes are always 4 or more people deep. The checkout people allow customers who don't have a PIN for their card to stand there forever trying to figure out what to do. This happened to me twice. They also allow a customer to stand in line with a few things in a basket and then when they are about to check out, some relative or friend will walk up with a huge buggy of items and just break line. This is the fault of the management. It got so bad that we decided not to renew our membership. Well, just as the membership was about to expire, they came out with this phone ap that allows customers to scan their purchases and pay without ever stopping at the checkout counter. You just show the guard at the door your phone with the list of items on it. The system worked so well that we decided to keep our membership. That is a case where technology saved some good customers from going elsewhere.
On the other hand, there is this grocery store chain prevalent in our area called Publix. It is the most expensive chain in town on average. It is even higher than Kroger and way higher than Walmart. I don't know for sure but have heard the company pays their employees above the prevailing standard. They also have more employees per store than the competition. That is the place we shop almost exclusively. Why would I go there? Service. I have yet to meet an unhappy or unhelpful person, whether it is the meat counter, produce, checkout or bagger. Anyone stocking the shelves or supervising other employees will drop everything and show you where to find something. If the manager sees the lanes getting more than 2 people deep, he/she will call up people from the back to open another lane. If there is nobody, the manager will stand there and check people out. The meats and produce are always fresh and top quality. If you want a cut of meat that isn't on display at the moment, the butcher will immediately cut it for you. The baggers insist on rolling your purchase out to your car and they are forbidden to accept tips. Their tactics are obviously working. Their stores are the busiest in town. I know of 3 new stores being built right now in the area. The age of customer service is not entirely dead.
As I'm sure I have said before, the examples given are yet more means for redistributing wealth from the poor to the rich and controlling how that happens. What we are seeing is the latter part of the life cycle of capitalism. Its lasted better than the alternatives but history shows that no economic system lasts indefinitely despite the members of that society firmly believing that their way of life is forever. Ask the Incas, the Aztecs, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Greeks etc etc etc how their world domination is progressing.
Capitalism will fall over at some stage, maybe in a few decades, maybe a century or two, who knows. However, the much often tried method for surviving the end of a society is to accumulate wealth and power so that you are left with a chair in the ever dwindling supply of musical chairs. Will the rest of society tolerate this?
Our challenge is to build the new order without the massive destruction which accompanied historic transitions.
Cheers
Every construction obeys the laws of physics. Whether we like or understand the result is of no interest to the universe.
In a few years time, programs will be 'smart' enough to handle many of the professional vocations, such as lawyers, engineers, doctors and even corporate CEOs. Many decisions made by these professionals are impacted by emotion which can bias them, skew them in a way so they are poor decisions. Racism, misogyny, you name it, it all comes into play. Perhaps a few CEOs will always be more talented than using a program, but my guess is that the programs will perform better than the average CEO. Certainly better than a Board of Directors. How many corporate leaders are showing up on the hit list for their actions that are shameful or illegal? Same with so many professions. With a proper scanner and medical tools, a program should be able to diagnose many diseases. Perhaps a low level nurses assistant will be needed, but eventually they will all be replaced. And they will get better and better. It may be that the only jobs that remain are ones like woodworking and well, that is about it. I actually cannot think of any jobs that at some point will not be done by robots, programs or automation. Even repairing the robots will be done by other robots. Once you get rid of all the employees, you can eliminate heating and cooling costs, breakrooms, bathrooms, etc.
The downside of course is that there will be no customers as no one will have any income. Hal meet Skynet. Skynet, meet the Matrix.
I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love.... It seems to me that Montana is a great splash of grandeur....the mountains are the kind I would create if mountains were ever put on my agenda. Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans. Montana has a spell on me. It is grandeur and warmth. Of all the states it is my favorite and my love.
John Steinbeck
Manufacturing jobs get a lot more interest because they have traditionally paid fairly well with good benefits and required a minimal level of education. Retail jobs don't require education either, but they often don't pay well, are not full time, and have few, if any, benefits.
Part of the reason for self checkouts and no checkouts is lack of employees. Just about every retailer in the Minneapolis area is hiring right now. The minimum wage in Minnesota is now $9.65, but most non-tipped jobs in the Minneapolis metro now start above minimum. The obvious answer is to increase wages, but at some point automation becomes cheaper.
There has been talk about a basic income paid for by taxes to help offset automation. Not sure how it would work exactly.
Two words, "data mining."I find it really hard to understand what the point of it is.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-t...A0M1JM20140123Andew Pole, who heads a 60-person team at Target that studies customer behavior, boasted at a conference in 2010 about a proprietary program that could identify women - based on their purchases and demographic profile - who were pregnant.
How much have they upped their customer analytics since then?
How much else do the know about who you are and what you want?
People will pay more if they feel they are getting more or even violated less. That little bit more is oft times something that isn't on the receipt or in the shopping cart.Their tactics are obviously working. Their stores are the busiest in town. I know of 3 new stores being built right now in the area. The age of customer service is not entirely dead.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
"Machines" & computers break down at some point.It is a self defeating solution. If you keep adding more machines to take the place of people, then people don't have jobs. No jobs, no pay. No pay, no money. Who is going to buy your product when people have no money?
"People" are needed to repair and manufacture and distribute the parts and the new machines & computers.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon
+1 I've stood in line as much as 15 min. I have bad knee's and I can only stand a few min's. The self checkouts are crowded and if you have a bunch of fresh veggies trying to find what you have in that screen is a nightmare.It would be awesome just to walk in throw what I want into my bag and walk out.Lower prices well thats a + too
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All I am reading here is speed, speed , speed. The world has become such an impatient society. We see it on the roads, in the stores, At the movies at sporting events baseball is once again trying to speed the game of leisure up. People constantly on the phone texting their every move in their day, taking kids to every event possible. When we were kids you went out in the backyard or to the park and played with friends. Now parents want that next superstar so they can have more time to run around and do nothing.
John T.
That is going to be a little difficult seeing as how those cultures have been dead for centuries or millennia. How or why they perished is not known for certain. All civilizations fail eventually because of bad people and corrupt morals. The economic model they followed may have nothing to do with it. The third reich (Hitler's regime) failed and it was solidly socialist, for example.
It's hard to remember any vision of the future portrayed in a movie or TV series that I would like to experience unless I was part of the 1%. Maybe moviemakers just don't like to make feel good movies about the future or maybe they see some of the trends in our society and when they project them into the future the results aren't feel good. Anyone watch the TV series Incorporated? It paints a scary picture of a future where corporations become more powerful than governments, laws are based on maximizing profit for the shareholders, corporate employees live in walled cities with all the benefits of wealth while the rest live in third world squallor. In one episode the company was insisting on retrieving an artificial heart that had been stolen and implanted in a child (outside the wall) on the basis that their profit/loss statement was more important than a non company child's life. Capitalism on steroids with no checks and balances. Is that where we are headed?