Posted on 09/06/2015 4:50:07 PM PDT by Mellonkronos
[Luddites and people with Marxist premises are wrong again.]
The Robots of Labor Day
Edward Hudgins
Fear of robots has been rising: not just fear of the sci-fi killer kind but also fear that robots will take our jobs.
But this Labor Day we should celebrate the fact that robots free us from the need to perform certain tasks, make our labor more valuable, and could usher in new age of prosperity and human flourishing.
Robots are machines
Robots are special types of machines. They’re programmed electro-mechanical devices that perform various physical functions, ideally better than humans. They range from the types that have been in factories for decades or that now roam the planet Mars to the more human-looking types that still are not in wide use. Artificial Intelligence (AI), which involves making computers—including those in robotic form—perform the higher-level cognitive functions that so far are only the capacities of humans, is now generally lumped in with robots.
In recent years the fear that robots will take all our jobs has been on the rise. Demonstrators in Austin, Texas held signs reading "Stop the Robots" and "Humans are the future." In Britain, 40 percent of people fear robots will take their jobs. Even in India, where labor is cheap, robots are becoming even cheaper and causing concern about the future of that country’s economy.
So should workers be concerned?
Fear of machines
The fear of machines and technologies, of which robots are a subset, goes back to the Industrial Revolution. Two centuries ago the Luddites in Britain sabotaged weaving machines fearing, for example, that textile factories would throw out of work skilled artisans making cloth by hand. And factories did just that! Was this bad for workers?
Karl Marx thought it was good in the long run...
(Excerpt) Read more at atlassociety.org ...
(Excerpt) Read more at atlassociety.org ...
No.
The ONLY danger from robots is that the government will take the wealth they produce and turn it into votes: welfare.
But what about Economics 201, 301, 401, 501, etc.?
The other danger is that a robot army would be irresistible. At that point humanity goes into an eternal slavery, ruled by who ever controls the robots.
Robots that eat tacos and tamales.. and listen to Mariachi music.. and don’t speak spanglish.. and say gringo..
-——Even in India, where labor is cheap, robots are becoming even cheaper and causing concern ——
four or so years ago, I went to look at some equipment being exported to Bangladesh. It was a complete automated factory for receiving bales of cotton, processing it, spinning it and making yarn for socks and T shirts. It was Japanese manufacture but had several American computers in control
it was completely automatic, only five years old, one can only guess how many jobs it will replace
Slavery: welfare. Yeah that’s what I said.
It’s interesting to consider our robotic media. It’s purpose to maximize the separation of wealth from the audience with the minimum of force.
Historically a very common mission of military forces.
The media still uses humans in their news broadcasts, but the content is all computer-generated. Seems an extravagance.
Hail Robots!
Ground-based Robots only work well in flat places... give them an incline or decline and they lose it.
Ground-based Robots only work well in flat places... give them an incline or decline and they lose it.
tracks solve the problem
lego robotics 101
The Japanese are not great at software for some reason. Sony could have easily been Apple except for that.
How long before a robot hustles your girlfriend? ;-)
I don’t mean welfare slavery. I mean full on, living in hovels and doing the bid of masters slavery.
How long before a robot hustles your girlfriend? ;-)
My girlfriend died in 1991..
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