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Doesn't "free up" actually, eventually mean "fire"? Reduce employment costs? Like kiosks at fast-food places? Personally I'm sticking to mail-order rx for the

by ck2 4y ago

Doesn't "free up" actually, eventually mean "fire"? Reduce employment costs? Like kiosks at fast-food places? Personally I'm sticking to mail-order rx for the rest of my life, pretty sure I caught covid at the pharmacy from the pharmacist who was refusing to mask. Imagine how filthy that checkout pad is at the pharmacy with every sick person touching it. Plus the prices are much more competitive.

FractalParadigm 4y ago
I don't see it as jobs lost, but jobs moved. You still need people to build these robots (or self-service kiosks), and you need people to maintain both hardware and software. One less pharmacist at the front-line is one more developer working on the software, or maybe that pays for two technicians instead. It's no different at the fast food level ether, it's just Industry 4.0 thinking in retail.
- petra 4y ago
  In general, costs are a decent estimate of the amount of work needed to do something. And we know that automation greatly reduces costs.
  - Spivak 4y ago
    Yes, but we really should take a more optimistic view of automation. We now have an autonomous system that can do work a human previously had to waste their time and effort doing. The automation isn't the problem, it's capitalism. The gains from automation are realized by the owner which isn't the worker.
pyuser583 4y ago
I’ve automated away plenty of jobs. Even had my own job automated once. People don’t get fired. Worst case is the company stops hiring, and lets “natural attrition” take over. Companies spend a lot of money hiring people, and good workers are hard to find. If you’re happy with an employee, and they would prefer to stay instead of find a new job, then you have a good match. Don’t mess with that.
- ck2 4y ago
  What you are saying is true and no-one is foolish enough to think a minimum-wage job is "forever". But the thing is people think going to college and studying a lot with a big time investment to become a pharmacist is probably a long-term job. Now a pharmacist is basically a minimum-wage job, they are replaceable on demand by season and profitability. This doesn't bode well for a society when you rely on someone who then believes their job is disposable. Then there is that pesky anchor in the USA of health insurance tied to a job.

by ck2 4y ago

FractalParadigm 4y ago

I don't see it as jobs lost, but jobs moved. You still need people to build these robots (or self-service kiosks), and you need people to maintain both hardware and software. One less pharmacist at the front-line is one more developer working on the software, or maybe that pays for two technicians instead. It's no different at the fast food level ether, it's just Industry 4.0 thinking in retail.

petra 4y ago
In general, costs are a decent estimate of the amount of work needed to do something. And we know that automation greatly reduces costs.
- Spivak 4y ago
  Yes, but we really should take a more optimistic view of automation. We now have an autonomous system that can do work a human previously had to waste their time and effort doing. The automation isn't the problem, it's capitalism. The gains from automation are realized by the owner which isn't the worker.

pyuser583 4y ago

I’ve automated away plenty of jobs. Even had my own job automated once. People don’t get fired. Worst case is the company stops hiring, and lets “natural attrition” take over. Companies spend a lot of money hiring people, and good workers are hard to find. If you’re happy with an employee, and they would prefer to stay instead of find a new job, then you have a good match. Don’t mess with that.

ck2 4y ago
What you are saying is true and no-one is foolish enough to think a minimum-wage job is "forever". But the thing is people think going to college and studying a lot with a big time investment to become a pharmacist is probably a long-term job. Now a pharmacist is basically a minimum-wage job, they are replaceable on demand by season and profitability. This doesn't bode well for a society when you rely on someone who then believes their job is disposable. Then there is that pesky anchor in the USA of health insurance tied to a job.