Posted on 02/11/2013 9:38:13 AM PST by MichCapCon
Typing on computers that have replaced typewriters, which previously replaced ink-pen and paper, some reporters write about the concern that increased productivity is leading to irreversible job losses for workers.
"Some experts now believe that computers and robots will take over much of the work performed by humans, raising critical concerns about the future of jobs," wrote business and economics columnist Rick Haglund in MLive.
Haglund’s piece came after a recent Associated Press article, “Recession, tech killing middle-class jobs” that also questioned advances in technology.
"For decades, science fiction warned of a future when we would be architects of our own obsolescence, replaced by our machines," read the AP. "An Associated Press analysis finds that the future has arrived."
Luckily for workers, the idea that robots and technology will lead to overall widespread job losses is nonsense.
These predictions have been made since the Industrial Revolution and before — and gains momentum whenever new technology arises. Right now, people think of machines replacing autoworkers and grocery store clerks, but decades ago, neo-Luddites worried about cars replacing horses and tractors substituting farmers. As I noted in an article last summer:
When this country was founded, approximately 90 percent of people worked in agriculture. By 1900, growing enough food only required 40 out of every 100 workers. Today, less than 1 percent of U.S. workers feed not just America, but many more people all around the world. The massive increase in farm productivity is purely due to technology. Farmers used to harvest grain with a sickle, but then came Mr. McCormick’s reaper, followed by motor-driven tractors and combines. More recently, chemical and biological advancements have greatly increased yields. With each advance, fewer workers were needed to grow food. To cite just one example, today American farms produce five times as much corn on 20 percent less land than 70 years ago.
And yet the loss of all those farm jobs did not produce 89 percent unemployment … because the greater efficiency in farming equipment freed up resources to move into other areas of the economy.
A main part of the workforce in America has gone from family farms to mass agriculture to manufacturing to service-sector jobs all because of technological advancements. The idea that new products will continue to substantially change the economy and workforce is to be expected.
But while change can be difficult in the short-term and lead to temporary job losses, it is good for the overall economy. In economics, this is known as “creative destruction” — the practice of less efficient segments of the economy being replaced by more productive and innovative businesses.
This increased efficiency has lead to real gains for the average person. As economists Mark Perry and Don Boudreaux write in The Wall Street Journal, the standard of living has increased substantially over time:
No single measure of well-being is more informative or important than life expectancy. Happily, an American born today can expect to live approximately 79 years — a full five years longer than in 1980 and more than a decade longer than in 1950. These longer life spans aren't just enjoyed by "privileged" Americans. As the New York Times reported this past June 7, "The gap in life expectancy between whites and blacks in America has narrowed, reaching the lowest point ever recorded." This necessarily means that life expectancy for blacks has risen even more impressively than it has for whites. Americans are also much better able to enjoy their longer lives. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, spending by households on many of modern life's "basics" — food at home, automobiles, clothing and footwear, household furnishings and equipment, and housing and utilities — fell from 53% of disposable income in 1950 to 44% in 1970 to 32% today. As spending on these items fell, people were freed up to spend money in other areas of life. In turn, jobs were created in other industries.
The loss of a job and the economic hardship it leads to is tough. But greater government involvement into the economy to hold on to older and less efficient industries would lead to less productivity, less innovation and less prosperity for everyone.
Heck, they can’t even keep their own abodes in order.
Trying to stop technology is like putting up a ten-foot wall to stop a 100-foot tsunami wave.
Manufacturing is a national security issue. The real danger of the robotics is the loss of knowledge.
I disagree cripple ;)
No. However we don’t need to become a society based entirely on us (people) sitting on our duffs and become “enlightened” to the point we are morphed into fat blobs of latte coffee while tracking what our neighbors are doing for breakfast, lunch and dinner (fb mentality). I can see that happening quicker than not. Not to mention who controls these robots once we evolve them to become almost humanly independent. Is there are override chip so the feds can take control when they deem necessary to control output or in a larger conspiracy theme turn them against us?
And that would be an even better number if we quit trying so hard to be globalist and create everything here and only import raw goods, at least until the playing field is level as far as import/export tariffs and such.
Yes, that is a very disturbing facet of outsourcing. The worst part is that we’ve armed our potential future enemies with the ability to create anything that we can come up with, and use it against us. The chinese gained some very valuable insight, and learned some very valuable lessons from the fall of the soviet union. The point to remember is this: the chinese are EFFIN COMMUNISTS!!!. WHAT PART OF THAT DO PEOPLE HERE NOT UNDERSTAND???. Alas, with you and me coming from Michigan, we’ve had to witness the destruction of our industrial infrastructure up close and personal. I’ll take what I learned, and put it to good use, against those who put profit above country.
There’s a revolution in robotics just like the PC revolution in computers: changing from large centralized robots to small distributed networked servos. 5 years ago we had a 1/4 million dollar robot the size of a backhoe placing .1 oz. inserts in packages. Now that can be done by a $50k robot the size of a breadbox. Which device can be quickly reprogrammed to do any similar task.
Eveything our competitors have can be obsolete in 3 years.
With China, it's not about political ideology, but race....every bit as much as it was with the Nazis.
The faster that people can transition from one technology to another, the less that people will complain. The more that someone is included in the progress, the more that they will go along with it - including robots. Finally, the longer that someone benefits from that transition, the more value that they will see in making it.
That aside, I’m not sure that the “service economy” is anything other than something that happens in bad economic conditions. Expecting everyone to be consultants or otherwise marginally attached to work(especially for long amounts of time in places normally associated with more permanent work) does not work for everybody. The service sector mindset simply isn’t in everyone that wishes to be productive.
I have no problem with advancements and improvements in technology. I’ve seen it first hand. The point I’m making is that the future advancements are being shifted to future enemies solely for profit, consequences be damned. The chinese are waking up to the fact that they don’t NEED us for techonlogical innovation anymore. They have the funds and resources to sweep us aside, and do what they want, and eventually conquer. The one thing to remember is that private property rights do not exist in communist china. All of those factories in china reside there solely by their good graces. When they decide to, all of that manufacturing capacity becomes the property of their government, with no recourse. If you build your stuff in china, that stuff, along with the know how, no longer belongs to you. Sorry, but you will be SOL.
“The one thing to remember is that private property rights do not exist in communist china.”
And the IRS, OSHA, EPA, etc. have severely limited them here. Making it comparatively less of a risk to manufacture overseas.
Along with the goverment sucking up capital for it’s welfare system and facilitating the trial lawyers, it’s probably more risky to build here.
It’s not investors building up our enemies, it’s our government.
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