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how much of the work force will automation eventually render permanently unemployed? i'm not a luddite - i think this is inevitable and there's no point resisting it. but some of the consequences might be worth thinking through.
People losing their jobs because robots replace menial warehouse jobs is a good thing. They can move onto doing more worthwhile tasks.
Whether I shop at a warehouse store, or I go to the big department store and or supermarket chain stores that are all evolving into the same kind of 150,000+ sq. ft. 'everything' store (i.e. warehouse stores with better product packaging and shinier floors), I can see that retailers are already doing warehouse-sized volume in cities all over the planet.
Wait, they fly airplanes full of diapers to the West Coast!? I wonder what quantity of jet fuel exhaust gets spewed into the atmosphere, just so you can get diapers the next day . Even with the increased per-worker efficiency, is the overall environmental impact worse or better than cloth systems, or simply getting them from the corner store?
Cloth diapers are worse for the environment compared to disposable, no matter how you get it. (Disposable uses landfill space of which we have unlimited quantities, but cloth uses water which is in short supply. Also cloth uses more energy.) But it's easy to tell if this method is better or worse for the environment: You have to pay for jet fuel, or truck fuel, or whatever. All forms of energy cost about the same. If…
Wait, they fly airplanes full of diapers to the West Coast!? I wonder what quantity of jet fuel exhaust gets spewed into the atmosphere, just so you can get diapers the next day . Even with the increased per-worker efficiency, is the overall environmental impact worse or better than cloth systems, or simply getting them from the corner store?
Sorry, the futuristic rail system will arrive a little later. Two steps forward, one step back. Right-sizing the boxes goes a long way towards using extra capacity. If you don't need them the next day, is shipping them in tractor trailers that much better?
Also, having the product carried the entire way in bulk, large-scale transport filled to the brim seems a might more efficient than little single-occupancy vehicles all converging on a retailer miles from their own homes.
I suspect we'd all save a lot of fuel if somehow all products were delivered to the home instead of forcing cars and SUVs onto the road to retrieve them piecemeal.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry, the futuristic rail system will arrive a little later. Two steps forward, one step back. Right-sizing the boxes goes a long way towards using extra capacity. If you don't need them the next day, is shipping them in tractor trailers that much better?
> "is shipping them in tractor trailers that much better?" Also, having the product carried the entire way in bulk, large-scale transport filled to the brim seems a might more efficient than little single-occupancy vehicles all converging on a retailer miles from their own homes. I suspect we'd all save a lot of fuel if somehow all products were delivered to the home instead of forcing cars and SUVs onto the road to…
I've seen old women visit 5 different grocery stores in a day to save a few cents with coupons at each.
how much of the work force will automation eventually render permanently unemployed? i'm not a luddite - i think this is inevitable and there's no point resisting it. but some of the consequences might be worth thinking through.
Redistribute some wealth from those profiting from automation to the unemployed.
how much of the work force will automation eventually render permanently unemployed? i'm not a luddite - i think this is inevitable and there's no point resisting it. but some of the consequences might be worth thinking through.
how much of the work force will automation eventually render permanently unemployed? i'm not a luddite - i think this is inevitable and there's no point resisting it. but some of the consequences might be worth thinking through.
It's only because of our crazy and short-term way of looking at things that this is even considered a problem. People losing their jobs because robots replace menial warehouse jobs is a good thing. They can move onto doing more worthwhile tasks.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's only because of our crazy and short-term way of looking at things that this is even considered a problem. People losing their jobs because robots replace menial warehouse jobs is a good thing. They can move onto doing more worthwhile tasks.
What happens when robots can do more worthwhile tasks than a wide swath of humanity? This point doesn't seem very far away. There are tons of jobs that don't require creativity, and those don't seem long for this world.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What happens when robots can do more worthwhile tasks than a wide swath of humanity? This point doesn't seem very far away. There are tons of jobs that don't require creativity, and those don't seem long for this world.
The jobs available in the post-robotic-revolution world and the necessary skills haven't yet been thought of. Once upon a time, most people were illiterate.