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In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

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Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#11

Post by jaggederest »

almavi wrote: post #3

My first thought was: "Oh, great! If slave labor is not efficient anymore there will be no more slave workers in the world". On a second thought (and based on our history), that probably will be true, but only because people that today are working just for a plate of rice will starve to death.

It's fairly clear (and distasteful) that economically, slave labor is inefficient because you have to feed/house them or you lose the 'investment'. In contrast, you can pay someone well below a living wage with virtually no penalty. This is why so many people at the low end of the labor pool have multiple jobs.

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#12

Post by [deleted] »

Quarrelsome wrote: post #7
almavi wrote: post #3

My first thought was: "Oh, great! If slave labor is not efficient anymore there will be no more slave workers in the world". On a second thought (and based on our history), that probably will be true, but only because people that today are working just for a plate of rice will starve to death.

the sad truth is that slave labour needs no startup cost beyond a fist.

[deleted]

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#13

Post by manmal »

mschuster91 wrote: post #5

The consequences for societies that define the status/value of their members based on their employment/job will be disastrous. In, let's say, 20 years robots most likely will have overtaken agriculture, manufacturing and driving - by far the biggest job providers. And I see no movement at all by our politicians to prepare societies for this shift, except a couple countries playing small scale UBI... and the USA actua…

I agree. In agriculture, the revolution has already taken place though. Even supersize tractors navigate themselves. A farmer can get by with a lot of machines and only a few extra hands, most of the time.

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#15

Post by ximeng »

mschuster91 wrote: post #5

The consequences for societies that define the status/value of their members based on their employment/job will be disastrous. In, let's say, 20 years robots most likely will have overtaken agriculture, manufacturing and driving - by far the biggest job providers. And I see no movement at all by our politicians to prepare societies for this shift, except a couple countries playing small scale UBI... and the USA actua…

Inherited wealth will just become a more important determinant of societal status than it already is.

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#16

Post by omegaworks »

mschuster91 wrote: post #5

The consequences for societies that define the status/value of their members based on their employment/job will be disastrous. In, let's say, 20 years robots most likely will have overtaken agriculture, manufacturing and driving - by far the biggest job providers. And I see no movement at all by our politicians to prepare societies for this shift, except a couple countries playing small scale UBI... and the USA actua…

Dear Leader is already busily preparing military and domestic border enforcement positions for underemployed citizens to fill to counter the coming influx of climate and economic refugees.

It's a great time to invest in detention centers.

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#17

Post by legulere »

> On the other hand, if institutionalized slavery still existed, factories would be looking at around $7,500 in annual costs for housing, food and healthcare per “worker”.

What makes a lot of things like food so expensive is human work. If you had access to slaves you could probably also reduce those costs.

We still have a lot of people living for under 1$ per day on this world. That's a factor 20 off from the cited amount of money per year.

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#18

Post by squarefoot »

Which will hopefully brings us to an inevitable change in our economics. If technological advance is going to create millions if not billions of unemployed people, the answer won't be rioting down the street and burning all machines in sight, although for many people this will appear the only viable solution.

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#19

Post by kevinr »

Quarrelsome wrote: post #7
almavi wrote: post #3

My first thought was: "Oh, great! If slave labor is not efficient anymore there will be no more slave workers in the world". On a second thought (and based on our history), that probably will be true, but only because people that today are working just for a plate of rice will starve to death.

the sad truth is that slave labour needs no startup cost beyond a fist.

Fists ain't cheap.

Slaves are capital, and, like all capital, acquiring and maintaining them has nonzero cost.

In the antebellum American South, some tasks like ditch-digging were sufficiently hazardous that a plantation owner would rather not risk their investment in their slaves, and so would hire Irish ditch-diggers by the day, as the plantation owner would be out less money if they died while digging the ditch.

Re: In Manufacturing and Retail, Robot Labor is Cheaper Than Slave Labor Would Be

#20

Post by derefr »

rejschaap wrote: post #4

"If it takes $2,000 to install what is basically an iPad and stand for customers to order from at McDonald’s or Chipotle, a restaurateur is looking at less than a month before recouping their entire investment if they eliminate just one cashier position." Obviously it takes a little bit more than that. You need to develop the software that runs on the kiosk. You also need a back-end system so the kitchen knows what t…

Ah, but the backend system already exists; it's what is talked to by the registers the cashiers were using. Likewise, the registers themselves are already running software 90% equivalent to the kiosk's software—same view controllers, different views.
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