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Instead of the workers doing the work, they will move to maintaining the machines that do the work. Or they will move to QA to correct imperfect automation or t
by jbob2000 9y ago
Instead of the workers doing the work, they will move to maintaining the machines that do the work. Or they will move to QA to correct imperfect automation or to increase quality in general. These jobs are less physically demanding and less risky, so I'd consider them "better".
- Retric 9y agoThat might work for say 5% of the work force, but what happens to the other 95%. Remember, a single factory may have similar number of workers, but it's going to produce a lot more stuff so at the industry level there are going to be massive cuts when say self driving trucks become the norm. Automation does produce a surplus, but total wealth is in many ways less important than median wealth.
- KekDemaga 9y agoMany workers will move on to other sectors and spend the money earned there to buy dramatically cheaper goods from the owners of the machines that replaced them.
- maxerickson 9y agoI'll bet you a pair of Nike shoes that Nike shoes don't get a whole lot cheaper anytime soon.
- adventured 9y agoThe price will fall for an average pair of shoes available to people earning at or below the global median income, while quality simultaneously increases. As is always the case throughout the last 200 years of well studied industrial history, this process will open the market up to a lot more customers at lower income tiers to buy for the first time or to buy more. If they could afford one pair of average shoes before, they'll be able to afford two. Nike will keep its prices high for brand purposes. Meanwhile, robotic shoe bots churning out 3x the number of shoes in the same amount of time, at half the price per shoe that it used to cost, will be selling to the bottom 2/3 of the planet, not to Nike customers. Robotic manufacturing will do two big things: relocate some types of manufacturing based on demand instead of labor, and make quality goods far cheaper for countries near or below the global median income wise.
- abfan1127 9y agothose Brands like Nike will increase their bottom lines, but we all invest in these brands in our retirement accounts. Ultimately what matters is not the shuffling of money, but the increase in goods we all use. This is the creation of wealth that really matters.
- hectorlorenzo 9y agoYou are assuming that no other sectors will be affected by automation and that most workers in that region can freely and easily switch jobs.
- Jemmeh 9y agoProgramming is specifically super profitable because you need far less people to do the same amount of work. We'll have to come up with different economic models to cope with automation. One that's being talked about a lot lately is basic income, but there's various solutions to be looked at.