Automation and robotics are expensive, yes. Speaking for Ag(what I consider my domain of expertise as opposed to machines or coding), I have no qualms about usi

Automation and robotics are expensive, yes. Speaking for Ag(what I consider my domain of expertise as opposed to machines or coding), I have no qualms about using expensive Ag automation in place of cheap labour. Even without the exploitation factor, human beings shouldn’t have to do manual labour and sometimes dangerous, dirty and repetitive work. An example for a small scale farm would be weeding between vegetable rows. An example for a larger scale orchard that is 1000 acres, automation means precision ag(reducing toxic/unnecessary inputs, leading to $ savings, environmental conservation, minimizing collateral damage..like spraying during night time instead of flying crop dusters during night time, supply chain efficiencies and preventing waste. Some jobs shouldn’t exist at all for human labors regardless of cost of automation. Money is a man made construct. When we say ‘it would be more expensive to automate’, the statement is an artificial truth. Otoh, human beings, their health, welfare, habitat, nature and environmental impacts are all real. I wish to see all low paying manual labours end. Maybe someone will pull a plough to harvest potatoes as a hobby. And that ought to be for fun. Not for our food(essential for life as we can’t synthesize our own food) or for a living wage. I hope that in my lifetime, our food production goes mostly..if not entirely from human labour to mechanical and robotic automation. If it costs more, so be it. Money is an IDEA.