Robots To Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers

Vicissidude sends us to Wired for a look at a fruit-harvesting robot being developed in California. Its development has been funded entirely by agricultural associations, concerned by the uncertainty surrounding migrant immigrant labor. Quoting: "As if the debate over immigration and guest worker programs wasn't complicated enough, now a couple of robots are rolling into the middle of it. Vision Robotics, a San Diego company, is working on a pair of robots that would trundle through orchards plucking oranges, apples or other fruit from the trees. In a few years, troops of these machines could perform the tedious and labor-intensive task of fruit picking that currently employs thousands of migrant workers each season."

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Re:Don't Check Your Family Tree

[rho]

Actually, 90% of Bostonians are Americans, not Irish. They didn't just step off the boat, they were born there. Granted, born of parents of Irish descent, maybe, but that does not make them immigrants. It makes them Americans.

Saying "we are a nation of immigrants" is a rhetorical dodge. We are a nation of largely native-born Americans. Second generation Americans are not immigrants.

More important is the attitude which immigrants display. Are you coming here to be Americans? Or are you coming here to take advantage of the American way of life? Then great--welcome. If you're coming here merely to lay claim to American benefits, but still want to be considered a different nationality--and most importantly, if you teach your children the same thing--then you're not welcome. No nation is obligated to accommodate a persistent disaffected sub-class of citizens.