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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (861569)	6/1/2015 4:35:51 PM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1573951

<<Inode, computers and automation always threatens unskilled labor>> But now, it's threatening SKILLED labor. I'm pretty sure an AI can do your job...

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (861569)	6/1/2015 8:23:12 PM
From: i-node	Respond to of 1573951

>> Inode, computers and automation always threatens unskilled labor. The rate at which human workers gets replaced by machines depends on how quickly technology advances compared with how well the workers can adapt and stay ahead of the curve. Well, I agree, but it also depends on the relative costs of humans vs. automation. If I have to pay $8/hour, with taxes and benefits the cost of a minimum wage employee is maybe about $12/hour or $25,000/year. At $15/hour, that same employee costs maybe $42,000/year, maybe a little more. So, I can buy a machine that will replace one employee at a cost of about $50,000. What will I do? With a 24 month payback, I may decide to stick with the employee. With a 14 month payback, I may still decide to stick with the employee. But for SOME businesses, the faster payback will tip the scales and some employees will lose their jobs. That's before you even consider that technology doesn't take breaks, doesn't go outside to smoke, doesn't talk on the cell phone, and generally does a better job at most things. Of course, the pace of innovation also has a lot to do with the cost to replace workers, I get that. I just think the entire dynamic is misunderstood by many on the Left; they think, for some reason, that automation is not going to kill jobs, and that to me is just stupid. Innovation will create jobs as well -- but I'm not convinced that innovation is going to be the job creator it was in the past.