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Robots Ride To the Rescue Where Workers Can't Be Found (nytimes.com)

Posted by msmash on from the moral-dilemma dept.

Fast-growing economies in Eastern Europe have led to severe labor shortages, so companies are calling in the machines [Editor's note: the link may be paywalled]. From a report: In many major economies, companies are experimenting with replacing factory workers, truck drivers and even lawyers with artificial intelligence, raising the specter of a mass displacement of jobs. But in Eastern Europe, robots are being enlisted as the solution for a shortage of workers. Often they are helping to create new types of jobs as businesses in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland try to stay agile and competitive. Growth in these countries, which became low-cost manufacturing hubs for Europe after the fall of Communism, has averaged 5 percent in recent years, buoyed by the global recovery.

Few are riding higher than the Czech Republic, where plants roll out cars for the likes of Toyota and consumer electronics for Dell, while smaller companies produce specialty goods to sell around the world. A roaring economy has slashed the jobless rate to just 2.4 percent, the lowest in the European Union. The dearth of manpower, however, has limited the ability of Czech companies to expand. Nearly a third of them have started to turn away orders, according to the Czech Confederation of Industry, a trade group.

82 comments

  1. Headlines, man... by TimMD909 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is this is an article about workers who are lost? No. Is this an article about robots transporting people? No. Is this an article about search and rescue? No.

    1. Re:Headlines, man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      m'smash

    2. Re:Headlines, man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps the editor was replaced by an algorithm.

      If you make your people stupid enough, an algorithm looks smart.

    3. Re:Headlines, man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No.

      Corporations were saved from raising wages and paying for training.

    4. Re:Headlines, man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      dumbest article wrote by AI I have even seen... I'm from Poland no robots here....

  2. Global-sourcing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jobs are mobile, labor is not.

  3. Probable Ending by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    We are statistically due and perhaps over-due for a global recession based on the usual "business cycle" patterns. They usually keep the bots and fire the humans during slumps.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Probable Ending by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "They usually keep the bots and fire the humans during slumps." If they can, sure. Tesla, Burger King, Amazon, everyone is coming to the realization that robots can't really replace humans yet. There's too much they can't do well at any cost.

    2. Re:Probable Ending by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      But once the bots' ability stabilizes for a task, they pretty much stay in place.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    3. Re: Probable Ending by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Will be great in Sweden with record house hold debt, housing prices, negative interest rate, weak krona, lots of new immigrants, a budget which haven't saved up any money these years because we've used the money for that other thing, no reforms or political changes whatsoever really because Swedish politics has only been about which one thing.

    4. Re:Probable Ending by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      They usually keep the bots and fire the humans during slumps.

      It is not that simple. Automation leverages rather than just replacing human labor, and no factories are 100% automated.

      Let's say there are two factories with equal output. The first has 100 human workers. The second has 50 human workers and 50 robots. What happens in a recession when demand falls? The robots are a sunk cost, and cannot be "fired". So a worker in the automated second factory has twice the marginal value to his employer as a worker in the first factory.

      Result: People that work with automation will keep their jobs, while people doing fully manual work will lose theirs.

    5. Re: Probable Ending by dj245 · · Score: 1

      ...no reforms or political changes whatsoever really because Swedish politics has only been about which one thing.

      And that thing is? Don't leave us hanging!

      --
      Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
    6. Re:Probable Ending by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      People that work with automation will keep their jobs

      Perhaps, but human bot maintainers are probably roughly a 1:10 ratio to bots. Further, R&D on future bots may likely be cut because it's not an immediate return. During slumps, "non essential" staff is often cut, and R&D is not immediately essential. The math doesn't seem to support your point.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    7. Re: Probable Ending by sd4f · · Score: 1

      I'm waiting too...

    8. Re:Probable Ending by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh... No.

      Factory with 100 Human Workers (Wh)
      Factory with 50 Wh and 50 Robot Workers (Wr)
      In production the cost of Wh rises over time while the cost of Wr drops as the initial investment becomes maintenance and (hopefully) planned replacement.
      In recession the cost of Wh falls (since that cost can be reduced at will) while the cost of Wr remains exactly the same.
      In reality the costs of robots in a recession will drive costs up for the second factory while the first factory should see a cost drop.
      Remember, maintenance should continue even if the robot is off-line. Updates need to roll out and maintenance schedules, especially contractually obligated maintenance, must be performed. Robots are low cost, not no cost. A human can be fired and rehired.

  4. There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I suppose it would be highly rude to suggest they hire Syrian, Libyan, and other refugees... AC

    1. Re: There is a labor force out there by aliquis · · Score: 1

      That's why they go with robots.

      They are smarter than the west.

      Japan will also go with robots. Much better all around.

    2. Re:There is a labor force out there by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      I suppose it would be highly rude to suggest they hire Syrian, Libyan, and other refugees... AC

      Would you rather have a robot for a co-worker, or a Syrian? Personally, I would pick the Syrian so we could share falafels and tahini for lunch, but most Eastern Europeans feel differently. Non-white immigration is deeply unpopular there, even more so than in Western Europe where immigration has created a major political backlash.

    3. Re:There is a labor force out there by war4peace · · Score: 0

      That's because most of the immigrants are bringing their culture with them, then loudly proclaim it as "the best" and force you to cope with it.
      I have nothing against their culture. However, I have something against them forcing it onto me.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    4. Re:There is a labor force out there by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      I have nothing against their culture. However, I have something against them forcing it onto me.

      Bullcrap. Nobody is being "forced" to adopt immigrant culture. I live in San Jose, California, one of the most diverse cities in the world. Never, not once in 20 years, has anyone "forced" their culture on me.

      Within walking distance of my house, there is a mosque, a synagogue, a buddhist temple, and the largest gurdwara in North America. Number of times I have been "forced" to go to any of them: 0.

    5. Re:There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Cherokee and the Iroquois would have a few things to say to you about that.

      As would the Inca, the Maya, the Vietnamese... Most of the world, in fact. OG AC

    6. Re:There is a labor force out there by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      I suppose it would be highly rude to suggest they hire Syrian, Libyan, and other refugees... AC

      Would you rather have a robot for a co-worker, or a Syrian? Personally, I would pick the Syrian so we could share falafels and tahini for lunch, but most Eastern Europeans feel differently. Non-white immigration is deeply unpopular there, even more so than in Western Europe where immigration has created a major political backlash.

      Since the robot would be less likely to abuse women and behead me, I'd choose the robot.

    7. Re:There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, I feel so badly about forcing the Aztec to give up human sacrifice, forcing the North American tribes to stop cutting off the legs of their captured war slaves, and forcing the West African kingdoms to stop enslaving and selling their neighbors. The poor dears.

    8. Re:There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My immigrant wife keeps forcing me to eat delicious food and save sacks of money through frugal living. Pretty soon, I won't be able to relate to my countrymen at all!

    9. Re: There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How lucky these practices stopped when their cultures were genocided into oblivion!

      Burning heretics was the cool thing.

    10. Re:There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't suppose you considered the idea that the worker IS a woman? OG AC

    11. Re:There is a labor force out there by war4peace · · Score: 2

      That's because the American Melting Pot works a lot better than the European Immigrant Acceptance ideology or whatever the fuck it's called.
      There's enormous differences between the two. Also, the number of uneducated Syrian, Afghan, Pakistani,etc. immigrants in the USA is orders of magnitude smaller then the European one. You can't compare the two either.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    12. Re:There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have nothing against their culture. However, I have something against them forcing it onto me.

      Bullcrap. Nobody is being "forced" to adopt immigrant culture. I live in San Jose, California, one of the most diverse cities in the world. Never, not once in 20 years, has anyone "forced" their culture on me.

      Within walking distance of my house, there is a mosque, a synagogue, a buddhist temple, and the largest gurdwara in North America. Number of times I have been "forced" to go to any of them: 0.

      Ditto for Toronto, Canada, where 51% the people here were not born in Canada:

      * http://nationalpost.com/news/a-snapshot-of-toronto-51-of-residents-were-born-outside-canada-vital-signs-report-finds

    13. Re:There is a labor force out there by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Reminds me of that scene in Gran Torino, where Clint Eastwood is initially unwelcoming of his foreign neighbours, until he tries the food.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:There is a labor force out there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The difference is that most of the refugees in Europe are escaping their war torn homeland but want to keep acting like they're still home while most people who move to the USA come here in order to "become Americans" and integrate in while bringing bits of their own culture along. I've worked with a lot of immigrants over the decades who tend to be more "'Murcia!" than the redneck-y members of my family.

  5. A bad moon rising. by theCat · · Score: 0

    This is a global phenomenon already. As birth rates fall in developed countries, older workers are retiring and cannot be easily replaced. Some tasks that used to be attractive (factory work, service jobs) now nobody wants to do. With all the pressure to get a college degree -- and the resulting debt in many cases -- nobody so educated will want to do factory work, and spoon-feed aging seniors. While less developed countries can fill the labor gap in places with labor shortages, there are other pressures to limit immigration. This creates a dire picture of societal implosion; fewer native workers means more money leaving the country to worker homelands, and possible fewer workers paying into socially contracted national systems (in the US, our Social Security fund for one). It might work out for capitalists, for whom all labor is a "human resource" and fungible the same as iron ore, but nation-state actors are likely to find themselves overtaken by declining tax revenues and aging populace.

    Robotics might address part of the emerging picture, but notice that robots don't pay ANYTHING into tax roles or social service accounts. Things can only get worse as this trend continues to its logical end.

    --
    =^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
    1. Re:A bad moon rising. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some tasks that used to be attractive (factory work, service jobs) now nobody wants to do for wages lower than what used to be offered.

      FTFY

      I know many people who would happily do factory work and such if it paid $20+/hour.

    2. Re: A bad moon rising. by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Just remember a big part of the attractiveness of those jobs-pensions-are gone forever.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    3. Re: A bad moon rising. by theCat · · Score: 1

      I didn't mention pensions because in the US those have been gone (except for government workers) for longer than most workers have been alive. But yes I agree, it just makes it worse. I again blame corporate actors for that, they didn't want the long-term liability of pensions. Making workers another "resource" was all they wanted, and they got that. All the signals then pointed down hill.

      --
      =^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
    4. Re:A bad moon rising. by Kjella · · Score: 2

      Well it's better that we reach a sustainable demographic rather than depending on an ever increasing pyramid of young outnumbering the old because eventually you run out of expansion room as these people need land to grow food, sources of water, use non-renewable fuel and minerals, create trash and pollution and so on. And they grow old too, leading to an exponential need for more young. Sure, it could be nice for our generation if they kept building that bridge to nowhere until we're dead and buried, but it wouldn't get easier with twenty or thirty billion people instead of ten.

      I mean the Chicken Littles are saying the sky is falling because the robots will take the jobs so there'll be no work. The other Chicken Littles are saying the sky is falling because the wave of elderly will overwhelm the working class. But there can't both be too much work and too little work at the same time. You could argue the economy wouldn't support it, but the 1%'er really got nothing to gain by setting off a re-surge of socialist ideas. With automated tractors, trucks, factories and stores the cost of keeping a couch potato fed and clothed is not that big a deal and in modern countries they only get 1.x kids.

      On a global level most people are still better off, extreme poverty is on the way down, literacy is on the way up. Access to electricity, cell phones, the Internet etc. is on the way up. Both China and India are well past the hump where they'll modernize the rest of the country. It's mostly Africa and the Middle East that remain fucked up, but there's 5+ billion people not living there while the "first world" used to be half of Europe, the US, Canada and Australia so like a billion tops. The bulk of humanity has seen a huge improvement in their standard of living, even if that slows the world won't collapse.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    5. Re:A bad moon rising. by jabuzz · · Score: 1

      The actual problem is that a large percentage of the skilled workers in these eastern european countries are now living and working in western europe. Perhaps if the respective governments had listened that said emigration was causing problems in the UK, and agreed to some limits then Brexit would not have happened.

    6. Re: A bad moon rising. by pnutjam · · Score: 1

      Not only pensions, but wages. Many of these jobs not only pay less in adjusted dollars, they pay less in real dollars. I see companies hiring at the same pay rates I saw 20 years ago.

      --
      Cheap storage VM.
  6. workers are begging to join by swell · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "economies in Eastern Europe have led to severe labor shortages"

    Aren't these the same countries that are refusing to accept refugees? I'm missing the logic here. Or maybe they feel that keeping a 'pure' ethnic environment is more important than a good economy.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
    1. Re:workers are begging to join by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "economies in Eastern Europe have led to severe labor shortages"

      Aren't these the same countries that are refusing to accept refugees? I'm missing the logic here. Or maybe they feel that keeping a 'pure' ethnic environment is more important than a good economy.

      They *have* good economies.

      They *don't have* no-go zones.

      And you're missing the logic...

    2. Re:workers are begging to join by opicak · · Score: 0

      "economies in Eastern Europe have led to severe labor shortages"

      Aren't these the same countries that are refusing to accept refugees? I'm missing the logic here. Or maybe they feel that keeping a 'pure' ethnic environment is more important than a good economy.

      Yes, you are missing the logic here. Some questions of interest:
      - How many refugees actually applied or have been assigned by quotas to Eastern Europe. Is this number even economically relevant?
      - How many of those would move to Germany as soon as possible (there is free movement across EU)
      - How many of them are willing and capable of working in European standard
      - What are the long term consequences of accepting people to do cheap work, as opposed to people who want to share your culture?

    3. Re: workers are begging to join by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Their economies are much better than ours.
      They will do better.

      Robots will beat westerners and westerners beat third world people so you've got no point here whatsoever.

      They will do better and they won't have all the other people in their societies.

    4. Re:workers are begging to join by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 0

      "economies in Eastern Europe have led to severe labor shortages"

      Aren't these the same countries that are refusing to accept refugees? I'm missing the logic here. Or maybe they feel that keeping a 'pure' ethnic environment is more important than a good economy.

      Or maybe they want to keep the explosions and beheadings to a minimum.

    5. Re:workers are begging to join by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Just because the unemployment rate is low means they are living the life. Eastern Europe has never recovered after the fall of communism where developers still make $600 a month writing software for crying out loud. They want to have life like the rest of us and is quite hard when wages for a skilled job are so low still.

      I am skeptical as always as corporations LOVE adding this by the marketing departments to make them not look evil or bad guys when importing H1B1 visa workers, robots, or bus in illegal immigrants from across the border to take American jobs away. A famous meat company was caught doing just this. They paid their US employees $25/hr in 2003. Now the immigrants do it for $10/hr and HR was training not to cross check their residency.

      This isn't ethnic more than it is they are free of communism and want the better life after 25 years which is slowly coming.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    6. Re:workers are begging to join by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How many illegally immigrated are in the US?

    7. Re:workers are begging to join by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Back in the 1990s the lowball estimate from the federal government was about 10-14 million. But that was before NAFTA kicked in full time and killed millions of jobs south of the border. Plausibly, the true number may be as much as 40 million.

    8. Re:workers are begging to join by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Article from Dec 2016: "1.2 MILLION migrants arrived in Germany in two years: just 34,000 or 2.8% have found a job"
      These "refugees" aren't coming for jobs. They're coming for welfare and handouts.

    9. Re: workers are begging to join by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Surprise, there are more important things than prioritizing economic growth over all. Refugees are unskilled and incompatible with their host cultures. They are backward, don't speak the language nor care to learn, and are illiterate in their own native language. Importing them is a bad solution, as Germany has shown us.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    10. Re:workers are begging to join by hackertourist · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Those male refugees left their families behind in a refugee camp (the safest place they could find not too far away from the hellhole they fled from). Then they undertook the dangerous journey to their final destination alone, planning to immigrate, get legally and financially set up and then pay for their families to travel safely and legally to rejoin them.

      You've fallen for right-wing rhetoric with no basis in truth.

    11. Re: workers are begging to join by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By that you mean keeping bombers away like Anders Breivik (Norwegian Nazi), the savior's (Russian Nazi group responsible for the Moscow bombing 2006), David Copeland (GB 1999), Robert Cottage (GB Nazi), Martyn Gilleard (GB Nazi)...

    12. Re:workers are begging to join by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The problems with their economies are complex and, like in many other places, the financial crisis and wars in Syria and Libya have given politicians with a strong anti-immigration stance a boost.

      For example, there is a labour shortage but the labour is not well paid. They could pay more, but it's cheaper to just get robots.

      There is also a lot of frustration that it is taking a long time for those countries to build up to similar levels as the rest of the EU. Perhaps people had unrealistic expectations about how quickly it would happen, and again some politicians are using it to push their own agendas while also blaming the EU for the migrant problem.

      Meanwhile many younger people are leaving the country to work abroad, and with the internet they can communicate how much better things seem in other places.

      Those refugees could actually help solve all of these problems. Many of them are highly educated, highly skilled and ready to build new businesses and economic opportunities to replace what they lost. I remember a study (sadly can't find it now) that found that a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs were immigrants in the UK.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    13. Re:workers are begging to join by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So nice that you are ignorant racist and have come to THAT conclusion. In my country - with the exception of 1 refugee, ALL of the refugees left for Germany, once they got status granted. How are we refusing them? By being poorer than western Europeans? WE HAVE NO MONEY FOR OUR OWN PEOPLE AND HAVE TO CLOSE DOWN SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS AND ROADS ARE CRUMBLING - all because of EU, which do not understand how to govern areas with poor infrastructure, that was neglected because of EU0(USSR), which did not had any real goals about people welfare in economy, but military achievements. All the manufacturing in USSR was based on idea, that it can be used for war and people were disposable.

      However, news about labor shortages are LIES. There is SHORTAGE OF CHEAP SPECIALIZED labor, that takes years, money and practice to become one. Because of low salary, there is(still) a huge migration of workers to western Europe, where they get paid more for job - any job, even the one that is unskilled. There is large number of unemployed people who can't find job - with better skills than any migrant or refugee, who also lack language skills, where english in most of the Europe is useless, since you have to communicate with people.

      Here is the thing about refugees(or people who has claimed refugee status), that some people forget - they are not allowed to work by law... even if any of them desires to work, because you can't just exploit people who have run away from war. That is if they are refugees and you have to prove that they are not running from war, which is not easy. So, refugees doesn't solve work problem, but add a lot of expenses to integrate those people into society. Btw, there is some statistics about migrants: 90% of economical migrants, who illegally have crossed border and claimed have claimed refugee status compared to
      95% of cases from ukrainians, who were denied refugee status, even if they were running from real war, where no one can guarantee that Russia won't advance more into Ukraine.

    14. Re:workers are begging to join by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A. Keeping the Labour market somewhat undersupplied is a *good* thing - it means the workers get a good deal. If there's automation, it probably means they are using local R&D.

      B. The 'refugees' don't have the skills required in any event. The massive investment required to semi-integrate them is overall not economical (but good for company bosses which won't do most of the investment but reap benefits from it).

    15. Re:workers are begging to join by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      that's a lie in 80% the cases, the much smaller number of total females in refugee camps prove it

  7. I agree! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We can't find workers in all 50 states because they are all on welfare.

    Yours,
    Republican Business Man Briber of Legislatures.

    Suck it Peasants.

  8. Time for experimentation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Let's try a robot President.

  9. Shortages, really? by Ichijo · · Score: 2

    As in employers can't legally hire laborers at any price? (This is the definition of an economic shortage.)

    Or as in employers just don't want to pay market rates for labor?

    --
    Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    1. Re: Shortages, really? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      At 2.4% unemployment they simply are out of workers in the country.

    2. Re: Shortages, really? by Ichijo · · Score: 1

      At 2.4% unemployment they simply are out of workers in the country.

      Yes, please continue.

      --
      Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
    3. Re: Shortages, really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If there really was a shortage of workers then wage growth would be 10% to 20% per year. It's around 2% to 3%. Economic growth is mostly in the hands of corporations.

    4. Re: Shortages, really? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

      I disagree.

      Even with no unemployment rate supply and demand dictates if you are willing to pay more you will get employees. Simple.

      These big corporate free market pseudo-GOP purists LOVE the free market when it benefits them. Then cry foul and need the government socialism when it costs too much. They are not true conservatives obviously as you can't have it both ways.

      Many HR departments still think it is the great recession and haven't offered more money than in 2009. Those that have are not complaining about the lack of qualified workers.

      In Eastern Europe the cost of a worker is still very very very low even with the unemployment rate. As in about as low as China as workers there are getting paid more than ever. This is an excuse to bring the machines in without suffering a PR nightmare or they found the robots for cheaper than the employees. In some markets like chip manufacturing you need robots as humans do not have the same precision and clean environments that the machines have.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    5. Re:Shortages, really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am Czech.

      The wages here are still about 1/3 of German or Austrian ones, despite our productivity being around 90% of theirs and despite most of the country being in 2 hours driving distance from those countries.
      Yet instead of rising wages, employers push the government to import unqualified workers from Mongolia and similar countries.

  10. Do they do unemployment statistics by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    like we do here in America? e.g. massively under report the number of unemployed and underemployed? America plays all sorts of games with unemployment statistics so we can make excuses to give out more "temporary" work visas. During Trump's campaign there were interviews with people who applied at his resorts for seasonal work and weren't hired because their jobs went to visa holders (who work longer hours for less pay).

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  11. I still check where my car was built by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 0

    >> Czech Republic, where plants roll out cars for the likes of Toyota

    I still check where a car was assembled before I will buy it. As in: USA, Mexico or Czech Republic? = No sale. Germany or Japan? = I'll consider it. Sorry Toyota...

    1. Re:I still check where my car was built by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      They can't assemble cars in Japan or Germany as they take up too much space and volume on the cargo ships which would dramatically increase the cost.

      The parts can be stacked and boxed tight 10 fold or perhaps 100 fold per container.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    2. Re:I still check where my car was built by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      That's dumb. What does the place of assembly have to do with purchasing decisions?

      Do you have some dataset on place of assembly and reliability that the rest of us don't?

      Or are you a dual citizen of Germany and Japan, and just trying to support your countries?

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    3. Re:I still check where my car was built by hackertourist · · Score: 1

      And yet there are regular car ferries from e.g. Japan to Europe for the models that aren't assembled over here. Japanese companies opened factories in Europe to get around import limits, not because it was cheaper.

    4. Re:I still check where my car was built by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Actually there was an investigation on NHK (Japanese national broadcaster) where they examined the "made in Japan" claims of several products. Many of them critical parts made overseas, e.g. a DVR with a Samsung hard drive or a TV with an LG LCD panel.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    5. Re:I still check where my car was built by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, depends on the model. A lot of the really common models are made in the country of sale but both of my Toyotas actually do list their origin as Japan on the sticker where the VIN number and other info is listed inside the driver-side door.

  12. Always replace lawyers with AI by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Seriously, AI lawyers are best at their jobs.

    You can tell by their success rate of 100 percent in 1 out of 1 cases they have won, and by all the threatening lawyer letters they send that say "We will replace your CPUs with peanut butter if you don't comply!"

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  13. Obama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Obama was basically a robot. Pretty good at reading speeches other people wrote, but that's about it.

  14. Around 15 million or so.. its a lot.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its around 15 million or so.. its a lot..

  15. Good advice, if you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...were running an IED factory.

  16. Rescue Bots by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

    Roll to the rescue!

    Regards,
    Heatwave

  17. And. . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is all experimental. That is not the same thing as 'adopted'. This has all been experimented with before, and we did not have a robot revolution. Sometimes I think tech folks are just bitter that 'nerd-chic' has more or less evaporated. Yes, most think you are creepy these days, and yes, most of your poorly thought out ideas, indeed, are.

  18. we gave up on competence long ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so any half ass'ed expert system will do for most jobs and noone actually builds anything when you can invest in internet rent seeking , grifting is the way of things now

  19. Lawyers? Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "replacing ... even lawyers with artificial intelligence"

    "The justice system works swiftly now that they've abolished all lawyers"

    - Dr. Emmett Brown, Back to the future 2

  20. Attention fellow techies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's time we really work to help companies cut major costs by doing away with bloated labor expenses.

    It is time we start developing the technology we need to replace management and higher level executives. The costs of these positions are too high and decisions are often based on flawed assumptions that do not gaurantee returns. Well designed AI and expert systems can really do wonders in replacing these

  21. (((They))) will not allow whites to have a place by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is hasbara aimed at displacing whites in Eastern Europe, the only whites who are doing anything to stand up for themselves.

    (((They))) will pay for this.

    The Goyim Know.

  22. ofcourse.. by SuperDre · · Score: 1

    yep, ofcourse they have shortage of workers, they all are off working in other EU countries, sometimes I even think I'm in Poland when I'm going shopping, even more PL licenseplates in the carpark than native NL..

  23. I'm looking forward to the first robot consumer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Spending their hard earned money on my handmade rugs!