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There is no robot that can knock me out (safely so that I wake up when everything is done), snake a thing down my windpipe, poke through the exact right spot in

There is no robot that can knock me out (safely so that I wake up when everything is done), snake a thing down my windpipe, poke through the exact right spot in my bronchial tube and into my mediastinum (a name for the bag that my heart), and retrieve a chunk of whatever surrounds my aorta. But here I wait, while people capable of doing this (or at least capable of learning how to do it - and that's a lot of people) also wait. That's regulation.

david927 10y ago
My view is that the times when Capitalism has been a long leash it ends up being wildly destructive. I love fire for cooking, forest fires not so much. I certainly don't think that the reason we don't have more jobs in America is that businesses are so hard pressed with labor laws. I just don't see that. What I have seen, over and over again, are that employers are realizing that they're now in the cat seat and become nothing less than abusive, deeply abusive, to their employees as a result. Once they see how many people apply for new openings and realize how unlikely it is that current employees will quit in this environment, they become mini-dictators. It's an interesting phenomenon. All that aside, I do wish you good health and hope that you can get the treatment you need soon.
- kamaal 10y ago
  Capitalism creates a winner-take-all market as time progresses. As it becomes harder to enter the market for new comers(See Tesla, also try starting a company to build airplanes) you will see powerful monopolies emerging. That doesn't end well on the longer run. Also Free Market economy seems to play along with popular choice, so pokemon go and cure for baldness is likely to get prioritized above space budget.
- maxharris 10y ago
  All that aside, I do wish you good health and hope that you can get the treatment you need soon. Thank you (and I mean that quite sincerely). Practically speaking, though, how will I get treatment? Intervention from the government is the only reason I'm waiting for care right now. (See my comments in other posts on this thread - I establish this in great detail if you consider my posts together.)
- gregpilling 10y ago
  "..become nothing less than abusive, deeply abusive, to their employees as a result .." As an employer I find this surprising. I spend a lot of time and effort trying to be good to my staff. I find that a well taken care of staff delivers better results than a poorly taken care of staff. I admit I am doing it in my own self interest, but even acknowledging that it still is about as opposite to "deeply abusive" as I could imagine. I spend a third of my life with the people at work, how could that be pleasant if it was abusive? I hope you can find a workplace one day that makes you feel appreciated. Life is better when that happens. For everyone.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
st3v3r 10y ago
How much does doing that pay? How much does being a finance guy on Wall Street pay (or at least have the allure of paying)? How much does being part of a trendy startup in SV pay (or at least have the allure of paying)? Doing the job you want done takes a lot of hard work and study. Being in Finance or startup world can reward better, with less effort.
internaut 10y ago
One can visualize a future in which disposable robots are very small and remotely controlled, capable of liquefying specific organic substances or dispensing drug doses.
- syngrog66 10y ago
  I had two reactions to your comment. One, in which I assume you meant it in a way that was optimistic and benign. Two, in which it described a Matrix-like dystopia.
  - internaut 10y ago
    I meant the first but the second interpretation is somehow more compelling.
vacri 10y ago
There's no robot that can write cronjobs for the place I work at, but with my oversight, those cronjobs are force multipliers, allowing little old me to do the job of dozens of people if we had to run those things manually. Automation doesn't mean a 100% reduction of staff, but merely a significant reduction in staff. There's plenty of automation snaking its way into surgeries.
- infinite8s 10y ago
  Those cron jobs are just manual management of automation. If you take a few steps back, it doesn't seem too unlikely that that can be automated as well (as a recent example, Kubernetes has automated away a whole swath of what recently required manual management of individual server automation).
joshcrews 10y ago
There now is a robot that can knock you out safely https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-machine-could-one-day-replace-anesthesiologists/2015/05/11/92e8a42c-f424-11e4-b2f3-af5479e6bbdd_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-machine-...
- maxharris 10y ago
  Do you know what I would give to help make this a reality? I would literally drop $10k, in cash, right now, to get faster treatment. I have the money - I worked my ass off to earn it (while sick, no less!) What I (and the experts that would use this machine on me) don't have is the political freedom to use it as we see fit. This thing could literally save my life. A team invented it, tested it, and it's just sitting there. I'm just sitting here. Waiting.
  - gregpilling 10y ago
    can you apply to professors/researchers in those technologies to be a test subject? sometimes the academics have a hard time recruiting willing subjects.

david927 10y ago

My view is that the times when Capitalism has been a long leash it ends up being wildly destructive. I love fire for cooking, forest fires not so much. I certainly don't think that the reason we don't have more jobs in America is that businesses are so hard pressed with labor laws. I just don't see that. What I have seen, over and over again, are that employers are realizing that they're now in the cat seat and become nothing less than abusive, deeply abusive, to their employees as a result. Once they see how many people apply for new openings and realize how unlikely it is that current employees will quit in this environment, they become mini-dictators. It's an interesting phenomenon. All that aside, I do wish you good health and hope that you can get the treatment you need soon.

kamaal 10y ago
Capitalism creates a winner-take-all market as time progresses. As it becomes harder to enter the market for new comers(See Tesla, also try starting a company to build airplanes) you will see powerful monopolies emerging. That doesn't end well on the longer run. Also Free Market economy seems to play along with popular choice, so pokemon go and cure for baldness is likely to get prioritized above space budget.
maxharris 10y ago
All that aside, I do wish you good health and hope that you can get the treatment you need soon. Thank you (and I mean that quite sincerely). Practically speaking, though, how will I get treatment? Intervention from the government is the only reason I'm waiting for care right now. (See my comments in other posts on this thread - I establish this in great detail if you consider my posts together.)
gregpilling 10y ago
"..become nothing less than abusive, deeply abusive, to their employees as a result .." As an employer I find this surprising. I spend a lot of time and effort trying to be good to my staff. I find that a well taken care of staff delivers better results than a poorly taken care of staff. I admit I am doing it in my own self interest, but even acknowledging that it still is about as opposite to "deeply abusive" as I could imagine. I spend a third of my life with the people at work, how could that be pleasant if it was abusive? I hope you can find a workplace one day that makes you feel appreciated. Life is better when that happens. For everyone.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

st3v3r 10y ago

How much does doing that pay? How much does being a finance guy on Wall Street pay (or at least have the allure of paying)? How much does being part of a trendy startup in SV pay (or at least have the allure of paying)? Doing the job you want done takes a lot of hard work and study. Being in Finance or startup world can reward better, with less effort.

internaut 10y ago

One can visualize a future in which disposable robots are very small and remotely controlled, capable of liquefying specific organic substances or dispensing drug doses.

syngrog66 10y ago
I had two reactions to your comment. One, in which I assume you meant it in a way that was optimistic and benign. Two, in which it described a Matrix-like dystopia.
- internaut 10y ago
  I meant the first but the second interpretation is somehow more compelling.

vacri 10y ago

There's no robot that can write cronjobs for the place I work at, but with my oversight, those cronjobs are force multipliers, allowing little old me to do the job of dozens of people if we had to run those things manually. Automation doesn't mean a 100% reduction of staff, but merely a significant reduction in staff. There's plenty of automation snaking its way into surgeries.

infinite8s 10y ago
Those cron jobs are just manual management of automation. If you take a few steps back, it doesn't seem too unlikely that that can be automated as well (as a recent example, Kubernetes has automated away a whole swath of what recently required manual management of individual server automation).

joshcrews 10y ago

There now is a robot that can knock you out safely https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-machine-could-one-day-replace-anesthesiologists/2015/05/11/92e8a42c-f424-11e4-b2f3-af5479e6bbdd_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-machine-...

maxharris 10y ago
Do you know what I would give to help make this a reality? I would literally drop $10k, in cash, right now, to get faster treatment. I have the money - I worked my ass off to earn it (while sick, no less!) What I (and the experts that would use this machine on me) don't have is the political freedom to use it as we see fit. This thing could literally save my life. A team invented it, tested it, and it's just sitting there. I'm just sitting here. Waiting.
- gregpilling 10y ago
  can you apply to professors/researchers in those technologies to be a test subject? sometimes the academics have a hard time recruiting willing subjects.