US Companies Put Record Number of Robots To Work in 2018 (reuters.com)

U.S. companies installed more robots last year than ever before, as cheaper and more flexible machines put them within reach of businesses of all sizes and in more corners of the economy beyond their traditional foothold in car plants. From a report: Shipments hit 28,478, nearly 16 percent more than in 2017, according to data seen by Reuters that was set for release on Thursday by the Association for Advancing Automation, an industry group based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Shipments increased in every sector the group tracks, except automotive, where carmakers cut back after finishing a major round of tooling up for new truck models.

Comments

Good

[alvinrod]

I know that there are plenty of people who like to complain about loss of jobs, but this is good. We wouldn’t be able to afford to own even a quarter of all the nice shit we currently have without advances that automated away inefficient human labor which makes things expensive. Go back far enough and almost everyone would need to be farming so that we all wouldn’t starve.

Re:Good

[alvinrod]

Automation makes sense where it makes sense. Where it doesn't make sense forcing it doesn't make sense.

And how do you purport to know which is which?

Do you think that the businesses who are investing their own money into this automation would be doing it if they didn't believe that it makes sense for them to do so? Just because you cannot see the case for doing it, doesn't mean that one doesn't exist.

and also implying there is no major, major downside to automating away employment.

I don't believe I've done any such thing or that you're choosing to infer more than I meant to imply. Yes, automation means people will lose their jobs. Yet here we are today and no one bemoans the plight of the telephone switchboard operator, the out of work farriers, or the countless other jobs lost over the decades due to improvements in automation. Many of the jobs that exist today couldn't exist at all without the prior advances in automation that freed up human labor to fill those new jobs.

Not good [Re:Good]

[XXongo]

The problem is that the value produced by the robots goes to profits earned by the people owning the robots-- that is, the rich people.

Shortly there will be no entry-level jobs, and after that there will be no jobs, period. You can't work your way up from working class to middle class to ownership class, because there is no path upward. If you aren't a member of the class that owns the robots, you live on whatever dole the people who own the robots choose to give you.

Re:Not good [Re:Good]

[bob4u2c]

Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionment,
and despite the changing fortunes of time,
There is always a big future in computer maintenance.
--Deteriorata

Re:Not good [Re:Good]

[ShanghaiBill]

The problem is that the value produced by the robots goes to profits earned by the people owning the robots

This is only true if competitors don't also install robots. If everyone automates, the profit margins are competed away, and the added value goes primarily to consumers.

Of course, this is only true if we have free markets. Removing barriers to competition is the real solution, not slowing the adoption of automation.

that is, the rich people.

The biggest owners of capital in America are pension funds. So if you have a 401k or an IRA, that means you.

Shortly there will be no entry-level jobs, and after that there will be no jobs, period.

Too late. The McCormick Reaper already destroyed all the jobs.

On change

[The Snazster]

Most people react to change in one of two ways: they resist it or they look for opportunities in it.

The challenge people seem most concerned with arises from shifting the balance of earned income further from wage-based and more towards capital-based. That presents challenges (and opportunities), but resisting automation is not going to be way to meet them.

That's nice if you're job isn't automated

[rsilvergun]

and you can still buy stuff. Not so much if you're one of the ones that lost jobs to automation (and process improvement, don't forget that).

Farming isn't just about automation, btw. We radically changed how we mange farms to prevent over farming and we use oil byproducts to replenish soil and massively increase yields. Then there's GMOs. My point is that not everything we have is because of robots. Hell, consumer electronics didn't get cheap until Japan and then China started making them. That wasn't automation, that was cheaper labor and longer (non-Union) work hours....

I honestly don't think most people want to taste real efficiency. Folks joke about how little work gets done in an office (Scott Adams made a career of it) but it's only half a joke.