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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: skinowski who wrote (232538)	12/24/2007 3:48:27 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794465

If a robot (and/or a supercheap laborer) can manufacture a complete sock, perhaps we shouldn't get all stressed out about losing our "manufacturing capacity" - of socks, in this cas All socks today, all over the world, are made on Italian automatic knitting machines. The key is that when the machine is done the sock is a tube that needs to have the end sewn up. This is done by piecework. The cheapest place to get this done is a city in China that does almost nothing else. And that is where all the WalMart socks come from.

To: skinowski who wrote (232538)	12/25/2007 12:34:14 PM
From: ig	Respond to of 794465

Perhaps, we should give some thought to the concept that we may find ourselves living in a "post-manufacturing" world. Would be interesting to figure out what that implies. I've been thinking the same thing for several years. Also, what happens when the necessities of life become so cheap that they are virtually free? (Go robots!) You'd think that having robots doing all the work would be a Good Thing, but nooooo.... The first thing everyone says when I run the robot scenario past them is this: "If robots are doing all the work, what are people going to do for jobs? How are people going to make money?" And that's an interesting question.