[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')In a few days your local hardware store will have more cash on hand the federal government.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Foxconn to replace workers with 1 million robots in 3 years

SHENZHEN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency, said Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company, late Friday.

The robots will be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers, said Gou at a workers' dance party Friday night.

The company currently has 10,000 robots and the number will be increased to 300,000 next year and 1 million in three years, according to Gou.

Foxconn, the world's largest maker of computer components which assembles products for Apple, Sony and Nokia, is in the spotlight after a string of suicides of workers at its massive Chinese plants, which some blamed on tough working conditions.

The company currently employs 1.2 million people, with about 1 million of them based on the Chinese mainland.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/30/c_131018764.htm

[DomusAlbion]

Kurt Vonnegut predicted this dystopian future in 1952 in the novel "Player Piano".

[Sixstrings]

The company sounds like a great investment:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')BB is a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, operating mainly in the power and automation technology areas. It ranked 143rd in Forbes Ranking (2010).

ABB is one of the largest engineering companies as well as one of the largest conglomerates in the world. ABB has operations in around 100 countries, with approximately 124,000 employees,[2] and reported global revenue of $31.6 billion for 2010.[1]

Profit US $2.561 billion (2010)[1]
Total assets US $36.30 billion (2010)[1]
Total equity US $15.46 billion (2010)[1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABB_Group

[Pretorian]

May be because they wait for you to buy.
On the other hand, these little guys looks almost like human beings. And freed labor force can join the military. Imagine billions of young people with nothing to do , all over the world== millions of wars, little and big ones.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DomusAlbion', 'K')urt Vonnegut predicted this dystopian future in 1952 in the novel "Player Piano".

[Outcast_Searcher]

On the one hand, you can't stop tecnological progress without completely changing the way society works. Someone will build such robots as electronics and computer software continue to advance.

The classic example of job dislocation goes back to the buggy whip elimination when cars took over the role of horses as the primary means of private transport.

OTOH, supposedly, such technological advances (in time) create more (and better) jobs than they displace, and generally improve our standard of living, overall.

At least one problem/breakdown in this model, IMO, is the declining standard of education, at least in the U.S. Burger flippers who can't run a cash register (beyond pushing on a picture of a hamburger -- and they have no clue if the total is correct, and are COMPLETELY lost if the LAN goes down) are NOT going to be able to, for example, fix or improve such robots, or any other such "advanced or better" job that I can readily think of.

Aside for advocating better teacher pay, which seems to have little bearing on real success beyond where the unions have taken most teacher total compensation packages -- I see VERY LITTLE serious input on this issue. IMO it is THE primary long term issue first world countries which wish to REMAIN first world face, in the medium to long term. (Peak Oil included).

But no, let's focus on how many bombs to build, which unions to prop up, and of course, regulate everything much more. THAT will surely alleviate the unemployment problem, especially long term.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'T')he classic example of job dislocation goes back to the buggy whip elimination when cars took over the role of horses as the primary means of private transport.

[SeaGypsy]

There are about a billion workers in SE Asia earning similar wages and China is starting to be a popular option. For robotization to be effective in a given sector, there has to be product longevity to back up the investment. Of course the bots beome more adaptable over time.

[Outcast_Searcher]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kublikhan', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'T')he classic example of job dislocation goes back to the buggy whip elimination when cars took over the role of horses as the primary means of private transport.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'T')here are about a billion workers in SE Asia earning similar wages and China is starting to be a popular option. For robotization to be effective in a given sector, there has to be product longevity to back up the investment. Of course the bots beome more adaptable over time.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', 'P')erhaps we are having a semantics issue here.

1). I went on to point out that the LACK of meaningful high quality education is THE fundamental problem in the employment issue. (I equate education with your retraining comment -- but private industry no longer tends to retrain (nor does government), which is a big problem).

2). I would argue that automation IS another industry, which to maintain, extend, improve, keep safe, etc. will require lots of HIGH SKILLED jobs.

It's not a clear one-for-one replacement of course, and my argument may be bogus. But this seems like another example of technology BOTH destroying old jobs and CREATING OPPORTUNITIES for new SKILLED jobs (and a higher standard of living for all) to me -- which fits right in with the buggy-whip analogy, IMO.

[Novus]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Outcast_Searcher', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DomusAlbion', 'K')urt Vonnegut predicted this dystopian future in 1952 in the novel "Player Piano".

[peeker01]

I suggest them little chinamen go learn how to repair robots.

[AgentR11]

Kinda reminds me of the original transition in computers, from analog machines, purpose designed to execute a single action or calculation repeatedly, to digital machines which could be readily programmed, to today where the programming is so removed from the hardware and its location that you may not even know what state the CPU that executed the code is in.

These robots show every bit the signs of being software adaptable as opposed to having to be hardware adaptable. Thus, they can be mass produced, and the specialization happening in the software where it can be continuously updated or changed as jobs and tasks change.

It begins.

Want three.
Yesterday.

[copious.abundance]

The problem with anti-utopian pieces like Vonnegut's is twofold. Even if were somehow true that all those workers could be replaced by robots ...

1. If most workers except a handful of engineers and managers lost their jobs to robots, not many people would have enough money to buy the products the robots manufactured. It would ultimately be self-defeating.

2. There is an alternative possibility that #1 would be overcome by vastly increased productivity coupled with a collapse in prices. Kublikhan above touched on this. Automation could make things so inexpensive that even part-time workers would be able to afford them. And society would become so productive that most people could work part-time and, with the help of automation, produce a very high value of goods, thus enabling high wages per hour and large paychecks for relatively little work. This could also free up a large segment of the population to work in non-goods producing sectors of the economy. We've already been seeing this phenomenon the past several decades. Imagine just 5% of the population engineering & producing material goods needed for the whole population, while the other 95% works as artists, bankers, real estate agents, retail clerks, government bureaucrats, etc. Even if the wages of the 95% aren't that high, the high productivity of the first 5% means that the goods they produce would be cheap enough for everyone to afford.

[Fiddlerdave]

The buggy whip-automotive analogy breaks down entirely in this case.

The robots can build themselves.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', 'I')magine just 5% of the population engineering & producing material goods needed for the whole population, while the other 95% works as artists, bankers, real estate agents, retail clerks, government bureaucrats, etc. Even if the wages of the 95% aren't that high, the high productivity of the first 5% means that the goods they produce would be cheap enough for everyone to afford.

[AgentR11]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', 'I')magine just 5% of the population engineering & producing material goods needed for the whole population, while the other 95% works as artists, bankers, real estate agents, retail clerks, government bureaucrats, etc. Even if the wages of the 95% aren't that high, the high productivity of the first 5% means that the goods they produce would be cheap enough for everyone to afford.

[copious.abundance]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')HY am I going to want to work hard enough to provide the goods and services for the remaining 95% of the population?