Maurice, re: "That's been the unjustified worry since the industrial revolution began. See Luddites: <The real problem is that the machines are replacing more and more of us all the time. > There is no shortage of useful things for people to do. When a machine does the hard work for us, those who were doing it can go on to do something else that machines are not yet doing.
It's a wonderful process. When Google autocars [or other brands] replace the need to have a person drive a car, it will be a great day. Millions more people will be free to do something more useful. "
Surely you jest.
Keep in mind that the laws of supply and demand mandate that when less labor is needed the bargaining power of labor weakens and wages, working hours and pensions decline, leaving low end workers "free to do something more useful" but without much of a chance to make a comparable living pursuing that dream.
Or maybe I'm missing something. What is it that American workers who have been and who will be displaced when machines take over their jobs can look forward to? What low end jobs will replace the millions of word processing jobs that have been lost and are being lost to high tech computers, the factory jobs lost to nimble machines, the logging and farm jobs lost to massive machines that cut, sort, harvest, till, plant, fertilize and transport, the fishing jobs lost to ships that can literally see into the water and drag long lines and huge nets over ocean resources now visible, and the many other hard work, low tech, strong back jobs that once fed families and allowed them to provide shelter?
And please don't tell me that these lower end of the bell curve workers whose jobs are being obsoleted could suddenly become innovative, aggressive, confident, articulate and genetically gifted people and find a way, as you were able to do in your younger days....that's simply an old person's excuse for blaming the unemployed for their plight when the reality is that there are not enough jobs for millions of unfortunate workers whose odds of finding a decent job in a shrinking job market are frighteningly poor.
Genetics aren't making less workers that fall into that category and the Darwinian rules that used to cull out the least efficient of us have been supplanted by public safety net programs so this problem is simply going to get worse, not better.
Of course the one workable solution might be a shorter work week with a higher minimum (living) wage to bring more workers into employment but what are the chances of that with historically low bargaining power in the hands of workers and ever greater political and economic power in the hands of ever bigger employers? |
