[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('basil_hayden', 'I')f you smash your TV and internet connections, it mostly goes away.

[Herr Meier]

Pops, I took a break, chopped some firewood and mulled over all this. My brain is clearly not big enough to understand it all.
Where will it end?
Isn't the end the situation where one single owner on the planet owns one single or multiple robots that do everything that needs to be done even leaving the owner without a job, providing all the luxury the heart desires?
Clearly even with unlimited energy available there is some kind of breaking point.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Herr Meier', 'M')y brain is clearly not big enough to understand it all.
Where will it end?

[ennui2]

I don't believe it's possible for bots and AI to design their own replacements. That's purely sci-fi.

The field of IT has gotten so broad that it encompasses various levels of skill. It's not an exclusive club of propeller-headed nerds with comp-sci degrees anymore. So there are opportunities. Straight IT jobs or anything that can be performed by manning a computer or a phone can be done via telecommuting. It can also be outsourced to grunts in the 3rd world, but luckily I haven't seen the destruction of jobs for domestic IT yet.

My feeling is that when commuting costs hit a certain pain-point that corporate cultural inertia preventing telecommuting will break and you'll see a huge boom in telecommuting. This is a lot more efficient than Manhattan projects for mass-transit. You just eliminate unnecessary travel and use Skype to substitute for face-to-face.

If everyone who could telecommute did, it would save a ton of wasted petroleum. So far I had only one job that let me telecommute for a bit, but otherwise I've had to drive. Luckily my new job allows me to take mass-transit, but the first leg is diesel-electric commuter-rail. Unless that can be electrified, it may be dead-man-walking post-peak and the path of least resistance for my profession will be telecommuting.

I think those who are in a type of job that doesn't primarily involve pecking at a computer or talking to clients on the phone, if it isn't medical or plumber or mechanic or something, are pretty much screwed. Adapt or die.

[Herr Meier]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', ' ')But who will farm out the farm work?

[El_Producto]

Increasing automation is an interesting topic in itself, and when you add the strong potential of declining energy resources it definitely complicates things.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of increased automation right now. I saw an article in the paper the other day about how they're inventing a robot to make hamburgers for fast food restaurants. I was like, man, that sounds like a horrible idea. I worked at Arby's for like 2 and 1/2 years and a lot of people depended on those jobs. What real benefit is there to getting rid of them? So what if the burgers come out like 2 seconds faster or whatever, aren't people fat enough already? lol.

Logically I would think declining energy resources would decrease the amount of automation products, like robots and stuff, of which they are dependent on and a bi-product of. Human labor might become more profitable again.

[Herr Meier]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('El_Producto', ' ')What real benefit is there to getting rid of them?.

[El_Producto]

@Pstarr True, or who is gonna clean up the bathroom after someone smears "fuck you" in poop on the wall like we had to deal with one fine evening haha. But maybe they should invent a machine for that...

@Herr Meier Hm, yeah, I guess that does make sense. Laying off all the workers though would probably be a big societal problem. Talk about the few profiting at the expense of the many though, a few fast food executives getting bigger houses and everything while hundreds of thousands lose their income. Kind of makes me angry to think about, you know? I'm not sure what can really be done to stop it though.

[Keith_McClary]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ennui2', 'M')y feeling is that when commuting costs hit a certain pain-point that corporate cultural inertia preventing telecommuting will break and you'll see a huge boom in telecommuting.

If everyone who could telecommute did, it would save a ton of wasted petroleum.

[Herr Meier]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('El_Producto', ' ')a few fast food executives getting bigger houses and everything while hundreds of thousands lose their income.

[radon1]

All sorts of valid observations here, but (as I keep repeating) automation results in higher overall employment, not lower. It is impossible to lay off everyone due to automation.

Drop the national boundaries and look globally. Those who are laid off locally have to be replaced with a greater number of workers elsewhere, in lower-cost locations, in order to implement automation. And the total level of consumption is normally growing.

As regards those laid off - it is cheaper to pay them unemployment benefits and generally keep them above the subsistence level, than retain them at their previous jobs. This is a key dynamic of capitalism and it will be like this as long as capitalism progresses in full power.

[Herr Meier]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('radon1', 'a')utomation results in higher overall employment.

[radon1]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Herr Meier', '
')
If I'd were to build a robot that can do EVERYTHING.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('radon1', '(')as I keep repeating) automation results in higher overall employment, not lower. It is impossible to lay off everyone due to automation.

[KrellEnergySource]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('El_Producto', 'L')aying off all the workers though would probably be a big societal problem. Talk about the few profiting at the expense of the many though, a few fast food executives getting bigger houses and everything while hundreds of thousands lose their income. Kind of makes me angry to think about, you know? I'm not sure what can really be done to stop it though.

[radon1]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '
')Show us some evidence why this will continue past PO and you won't have to keep repeating yourself.