The robots are coming
In essence, Ford is hypothesizing that Marx may just turn out to have been a little ahead of his time when he talked about capitalism’s “contradictions.” Eventually capital will concentrate in fewer and fewer hands (in tomorrow’s case, the robot owners’), and surging unemployment will combine with sagging wages to undermine the mass markets capitalism requires in order to function…
In a phone interview Tuesday, Ford emphasized that the pace of technological change is a much bigger force for disruption than globalization – yet it’s the latter that generates the ink and the fears. It’s wrong to think that only less-skilled workers are at risk, Ford adds; it’s much easier to automate a radiologist’s job than a housekeeper’s. For this reason, the idea that the policy answer is “education and training” strikes him as self-evidently flawed. Yet less-skilled workers will have no haven either, as Foxconn’s recent order of 1 million robots for its low-wage Chinese factories proves.
In the end, Ford says, if something like the scenario he sketches comes to pass, capitalism’s salvation will require that mass consumption not depend on income from work. What does that mean exactly? It means government redistribution on a scale that today seems as unthinkable as does the economy-wide automation of jobs he foresees.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Obamacare and government intrusion into the private sector drives companies toward more automation.
Blames capitalism for the “contradiction”.
I guess to the extent water seeks it’s own level.
MechanicalBill on January 10, 2013 at 10:38 AM
Robots won’t take kindly to tax hikes. You’ve been warned.
Seth Halpern on January 10, 2013 at 10:39 AM
As life imitates
artTF2.TexasDan on January 10, 2013 at 10:44 AM
Robots don’t care if their company is suddenly ‘nationalized for the greater good’ by a bunch of leftist tyrants.
Proceed at your own risk, corporatists.
MelonCollie on January 10, 2013 at 10:44 AM
The assumption that “robots will take all the jobs” is a pretty extreme one. We’ve been hearing for centuries that technological change would destroy the job markets. It hasn’t happened yet. It’s impacted specific industries but inevitably some new industry rises to take its place.
Did anyone really anticipate the internet back in the 50s and 60s? This is why predicting how technological change is going to affect humanity is so hard. There’s too many factors to take into account. Central planners inevitably run into this same problem when trying to operate command economies.
Doomberg on January 10, 2013 at 10:46 AM
Think the government has been secretly testing reject robots at the DMV and Post Office….
albill on January 10, 2013 at 10:47 AM
I could easily imagine a robot taking over my Twittering, Facebooking and writing comments on Hot Air….
albill on January 10, 2013 at 10:48 AM
Wait! That last comment wasn’t from the human me, it was my prototype Twit-Bot writer!
signed
the real albill
albill on January 10, 2013 at 10:49 AM
We already have a robot as President…President Auto Pen!
reppac122 on January 10, 2013 at 10:53 AM
It hasn’t happened yet because it hasn’t been practical and profitable yet.
The technology is mostly already here. What has prevented more widespread implementation is basically the same reasons that relegated early computers to being so expensive and taking up entire rooms.
Right now businesses are waiting for the tech-heads to present them with robots that are sturdy, low-maintenance, and don’t cost a freaking fortune.
MelonCollie on January 10, 2013 at 10:59 AM
The problem with automation isn’t that robots do the work it is that somebody else owns the robots.
Browncoatone on January 10, 2013 at 11:01 AM
I find this much less concerning than the O’Borg that infest government positions.
antipc on January 10, 2013 at 11:02 AM
They are already here.
John the Libertarian on January 10, 2013 at 11:03 AM
I think they already have taken over some of the troll posters……
GWB on January 10, 2013 at 11:07 AM
I would not at all be surprised if Dumbte and sissypedalian were bots. Unfortunately, since liberals IRL are that stupid and worse, I can’t say that for certain.
MelonCollie on January 10, 2013 at 11:11 AM
Wow, talk about stupidity that makes ones hair hurt. NEWS FLASH: The Robot’s ARE NOT coming, they arrived 60 years ago. They are everywhere all around you. Most of the people reading this have never known a world where robots weren’t part of the workforce. Most of the people reading this have never known a world where they didn’t interact with robots on an almost hourly basis.
What do you think a ATM machine is? A gasoline pump? A coke machine? What the hell do you think a cell phone or a personal computer are? Hell most cars today technically fall under the classification of a robot.
SWalker on January 10, 2013 at 11:35 AM
Automation may streamline a radiologist job, but cannot replace it. You still need human expertise to do the nuances of the job. Computers will never be able to do the full job of a human in your more complex fields. Having a robot may mean you need fewer radiologist, but it will never totally replace a radiologist. (This is actually probably a good thing since we have, and will continue to have with Obamacare, a shortage in medical professionals).
It’s like teachers….everyone keeps talking about how videos (Khan Academy, MOOC’s, etc.) will replace teachers. This is not true. You outsource the lower functions of teaching, but a teacher is still needed to guide a student and teach the higher order thinking skills.
Also, has anyone considered that the jobs robots will replace will create new ones – such as, people have to actually design, build, and maintain the robots? The robots won’t design themselves, and they won’t fix themselves when they break. But maintaining a machine will require more education and training than your typical repetitive task an assembly line worker does today.
ramrants on January 10, 2013 at 11:46 AM
On the plus side, robotic factories and workers should finally allow us to match fleet production with the Klackons and Psilons.
JeremiahJohnson on January 10, 2013 at 11:47 AM
What if winged buggy whip makers fly out of my butt?
This guy’s article is based on Ray Kurzweil’s stuff. Kurzweil is interesting to read, but some of his followers are starting to get a little cult like.
bitsy on January 10, 2013 at 11:55 AM
The day may, and I say MAY come when artificial intelligence is a reality, but that day isn’t any time soon. I know people who working in the artificial intelligence field, and when we talk privately and off the record, they all make the same basic admission. That admission is, that the more they learn about what intelligence is, the further away from it the realize we are from producing artificial intelligence. As complex as silicone chip technology has become and as complex as programming is, we still can’t even achieve the intelligence level of a cockroach.
Robot’s are just machines, machines that cannot think for themselves, that cannot design anything on their own, that cannot repair themselves, that cannot reproduce on their own. Robot’s, most importantly have no sense of self, no objectives that are not programmed, no want’s, no desires and no ambition. Leave a robot to it’s own devices, and it will sit there and do absolutely nothing, because even when the lights are on… There is nobody home.
SWalker on January 10, 2013 at 12:09 PM
As long as the ability to purchase your own robot exists, humans won’t be frozen out of the ability to make money. Think of it as a shareholder with a physical stake in the company.
James on January 10, 2013 at 12:18 PM
Someone has to fix the robot fixing robots.
Kristamatic on January 10, 2013 at 12:28 PM
The robots are creating wealth, which includes necessities, more efficiently. This drives the cost of these goods and services down, making them more affordable for more people who need to spend less time at work.
This is a very elegant argument, and an equally good argument against the proliferation of the automobile and the cotton gin.
HitNRun on January 10, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Also, You can tell a robot to make the tea and put out the cat, but if something malfunctions, you may end up with a furious cup of cat, and then where will we be?
Kristamatic on January 10, 2013 at 12:29 PM
This.
People get carried away with imagining that technological advances will somehow “break down” the free market, but the market will adapt in ways they can’t imagine, and everyone benefits.
Count to 10 on January 10, 2013 at 7:02 PM