Say Goodbye To Millions Of Jobs As Events Unfold
"...What has happened in the manufacturing is part of a larger paradox at the heart of America's economy, while we are creating wealth faster than ever before in history, at the same time, millions of people are being left behind. The median worker in the US is poorer now than in the mid-1990s.
Not everyone is suffering, skilled workers, for example, are earning more than ever. So are the very rich, those who own the capital that can be put to work in the world's increasingly person-free farms, mines, and factories.
But those who used to make middle-class wages are increasingly slipping into lower-paying, service-sector jobs.
Automation Is Replacing Off-shoring!
China's largest private employer, Foxconn, which manufactures the iPhone and many other consumer electronics have installed over a million manufacturing robots. This new wave of technology is leading to more and more automation and is rapidly replacing off-shoring as the least expensive way to produce products. China has been losing jobs to countries with even lower wages. Eventually, "you run out of places to chase the (cheap) labor," says Rodney Brooks, an Australian roboticist. This is where automation and robots enter the picture.
Years ago, thanks to some very clever engineering, a robot named Baxter cost about $22,000. Today the price is falling and Baxter is getting better. In the US, a person working full-time at what is considered a low wage would still cost an employer around $25,000 a year. The biggest difference is that
robots like Baxter will work 24/7 where its human counterpart does not. Brooks indicates that, in many cases, these robots are not yet capable enough to replace a human worker.
The robot is not a one-to-one replacement,” says Brooks. “We see it as a tool for ordinary workers to do better.
His vision includes bringing manufacturing back to the US by replacing with automation some of the repetitive tasks that are currently shipped to China and other emerging markets.
Not only are we looking at robots taking jobs from people but as robots become more advanced and sophisticated,
experts and academics have increasingly explored the questions of what ethics might govern robots' behavior, and whether robots might be able to claim any kind of social, cultural, ethical or legal rights. It is possible that a robot brain will soon exist, others predict robot intelligence breakthroughs by 2050. We must also question the use of robots for military combat, especially when such robots are given some degree of autonomous functions. There are also concerns about technology which might allow some armed robots to be controlled mainly by other robots.
The use of robots in military combat raises ethical concerns, the US Navy has funded a report looking into this.
The possibility of robot autonomy and potential repercussions has been addressed in fiction and is likely to become a growing issue. Even as you read this, huge companies such as Amazon are focused on moving to create robots with the goal of reducing its human workforce. Self-driving cars and delivery trucks as well as drones all have the potential to eliminate work that in the past only people could do.
One thing is certain, robots are taking our jobs and learning new tricks far faster than us humans. Automation and improvements in robots is a job killer. When you consider how fast the cost of replacing often unreliable human workers is dropping one must take a dim view of the employment picture going forward."
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