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Adidas To Sell Robot-Made Shoes In Germany (dw.com)
Adidas, the German sportswear and equipment maker, has announced that it will start marketing the first series of sports shoes manufactured by robots in Germany from 2017. Deutsche Welle reports: The announcement came as Adidas unveiled its prototype "Speedfactory", a state-of-the-art, 4,600 square-meter facility meant to automate shoe production, which is largely done manually in Asian factories at the moment. The company has struggled with steadily rising wages across the continent, where it employs around a million people. Still, Adidas insisted that the aim was not to immediately replace their workers, saying the goal was not "full automatization".
Cause out of work factory workers sure aren't going to be buying them.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
I think the global issue of diminishing work due to replacement by robots will more likely be solved when production and consumption happen in the same country, so politicians can see "both sides of the medal" - cause and effect. Producing in country A and selling in country B on the contrary makes it less likely the problems of unemployment are solved.
You raise a very interesting point about onshoring manufacturing, although you didn't specifically say it: quality.
With robotic production, production quality can become almost a constant. So what differentiates a good made in Country A vs. Country B? We could go for tariff protections, but I hate the idea of rent-seeking governments inserting themselves into transactions merely to soak up money. The quality of the good is ultimately going to be determined by the precision of the robot; meaning how well maintained is that machine (bearing, sensors, hydraulics etc).
So the competitive advantage is going to go to the countries who are investing in training (essentially) mechanics. I don't think drag'n'drop programmers (see another /. story) are going to cut it in that world...
Many Years ago I read a sifi novel about a planet with unlimited energy reserves and through the miracle of Sifi, the ability to fabricate anything. In the novel they had no concept of money. Everyone was able to choose their vocation, which they did out of altruism, or at least, a desire to not be seen as a free loader.
Start trek alludes to a no money society, but the various series are cluttered with Capitalistic enterprises (Ha!) and other examples.
Assuming that one day there is essentially no scarcity of essential materials (food, clothing, shelter, etc.), what structure do you believe a society would take?
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.