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It's even more likely that China will switch to a higher level of automation and robotics before the West does. They already have the production, and can increm
by klingonopera 7y ago
It's even more likely that China will switch to a higher level of automation and robotics before the West does. They already have the production, and can incrementally adapt and upgrade, whereas in the West, it would have to be (re-)built from the ground-up with intent to directly compete against low-labor markets (though arguably, in some industries this would probably be an advantage), and that would require far more investments up front, which carries a higher risk.
- chrischen 7y agoThe west is an information and trchnology economy. If it has specialties in anything it’s in high tech. As fast rising and impressive as Chinese tech is, it’s still generally inferior. We’re not not scrambling for Chinese devices because of tariffs, they’re just usually coming in on the low end. Manufacturing is also the low-value end of the supply chain. Building up expertise at the top (Apple, Microsoft, Google, Intel, AMD, Nvidia—level tech) is exponentially harder than building up the bottom end.
- klingonopera 7y agoThe first iPhone rattled the headlines, but I'd argue the third or fourth generation is what really settled it into the mainstream. In other words, the West may the first to have fully automated factories and warehouses, but China is likely to be the first to deploy them on a large-scale.
- C1sc0cat 7y agoUnlikely they have to keep the working and middle class happy
- klingonopera 7y agoAnd if that's no longer possible, it's easier to contain an unhappy populace in an Orwellian than in a "Huxlodian" state.
- C1sc0cat 7y agoUntil it doesn't see Romania, The technocrats that run china don't want to see themselves and their family's put against the wall or strung up from a lamp post.