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What I liked about the article on the Kiva Robots at OAK4, is that it emphasized is that the part of the work that's being optimized is the grunt work of moving

What I liked about the article on the Kiva Robots at OAK4, is that it emphasized is that the part of the work that's being optimized is the grunt work of moving stuff back and worth - the (relatively) more sophisticated work of identifying the item, verifying the quality, and confirm it's the right element for the order, is done by humans. While it might not be very high on the feeding chain, it's at least a little higher than it was before - and that's a good thing. I'm all for humans being automated out of the low-order activities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barge_Haulers_on_the_Volga#mediaviewer/File:Ilia_Efimovich_Repin_(1844-1930)_-_Volga_Boatmen_(1870-1873).jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barge_Haulers_on_the_Volga#medi...

crc32 12y ago
This is a positive interpretation of the scenario that may well be valid. Perhaps the question of whether job satisfaction at Amazon has improved or not is a little subjective. I love your linked picture. I think that with it you imply that in the past, technological progress has been linked with higher standards of living for most. I'd agree with that, but I am wary of extrapolating that trend into the future; or maybe just concious that significant social turmoil came along with that progress. Perhaps the situation is not so different, but we are merely doomed to repeat the mistakes of the industrial revolution; during the robotics/knowledge revolution!
- maxerickson 12y ago
  Hasn't the average global standard of living more or less skyrocketed since 1950, even as the population has more than doubled? The only substantial, technology related decline in standard of living over that period is of relatively well off Americans, primarily the blue collar middle class (and it's messy to actually try to compare across time periods like that, there are things that cost very little today that didn't exist 30 years ago).

crc32 12y ago

This is a positive interpretation of the scenario that may well be valid. Perhaps the question of whether job satisfaction at Amazon has improved or not is a little subjective. I love your linked picture. I think that with it you imply that in the past, technological progress has been linked with higher standards of living for most. I'd agree with that, but I am wary of extrapolating that trend into the future; or maybe just concious that significant social turmoil came along with that progress. Perhaps the situation is not so different, but we are merely doomed to repeat the mistakes of the industrial revolution; during the robotics/knowledge revolution!

maxerickson 12y ago
Hasn't the average global standard of living more or less skyrocketed since 1950, even as the population has more than doubled? The only substantial, technology related decline in standard of living over that period is of relatively well off Americans, primarily the blue collar middle class (and it's messy to actually try to compare across time periods like that, there are things that cost very little today that didn't exist 30 years ago).