Think low wage earners getting replaced by machines is a good thing?

a reply to: onequestion

You don't need to wait for the machines we have plenty of illegal immigrants starting out at the low to no skill level and working their way to the highly skilled jobs in the construction industry.

Flooding the market with low cost high skill labor driving the wages to half of what they would be.

Its been happening and it's just getting worse. I keep moving to different sectors where the rates haven't been effected as much but I'm running out of options.

Soon I'll need to make another move into yet another trade and this time I'm getting out of the construction industry all together

We've had a similar system in the UK since the early 1980s. It really is a crime on the people being "educated". First let me say there are fantastic wages to be earned, but not by the participants but by the "instructors" (jobs for the boys doncha know). It's firstly done to massage the unemployment figures, while people are on training they are took off the employment figures. But the biggest crime is training people to do jobs that they know there is no call for or they know no one will employ them because they have no work history in that job.
Also the government can brag about how better educated their workforce is. Just because they trained everyone in bricklaying but everyone lives in wooden houses is by the by.

We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place -

education = $$$$$


Regardless where you receive the educational requirements for your craft. Unhappy? Make some changes; Here in the U.S. almost everyone that desires to learn, can make it happen.

Hell, even a homeless man can earn a degree in the U.S.

It just seems to me as though there are more excuses than attempts these days.....

The topic of a "work ethic" hasn't popped up here yet, if it has, sorry I missed it somehow.....

But, more employers need to stop spouting their "work ethic" horse crap and consider their own ethics regarding the fact that they wouldn't even pay employees excepting the fact it is illegal for them not to.

I have worked for some real pricks in my past (not distant enough) and employers are a big part of the many of the problems here.

Buying a bunch of machines to replace your employees, with the goal of cost savings is fine and dandy, but the societal cost outweighs the benefits of employing machines.

It is a matter of ethics and common sense, both of which become rarer by the minute.

In the end it is not even about money, but the theft of time, and has very little to do with skill-sets or experience.

It is pretty much completely about avarice and nothing else.

originally posted by: ManBehindTheMask
Actually so does the ability to effectively do your job, and the specialization of said job

Not worried about losing mine

Specialization is interesting, on one hand it gives you greater knowledge which makes you more useful. On the other hand it severely limits your opportunities since you have such a narrow focus. It also makes you very vulnerable to a single automation invention.

How do you think assembly line workers felt in their auto plants as their specialized jobs were replaced one after the other?

Also, even communications improvements can render specialists obsolete as each specialist can now service a wider area which increases overall supply and ultimately removes jobs.

originally posted by: ReadLeader
We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place -

education = $$$$$


Regardless where you receive the educational requirements for your craft. Unhappy? Make some changes; Here in the U.S. almost everyone that desires to learn, can make it happen.

Hell, even a homeless man can earn a degree in the U.S.

It just seems to me as though there are more excuses than attempts these days.....

Note that in that mans story it took him 10 years to get a degree and a lot of aid from charity, he was hardly self made and while he did put in effort it took 10 years for a 4 year degree and he's now at entry level at 61 years old. I wouldn't say he has a bright future ahead of himself. Though I did look up his LinkedIn profile and am glad to see he's doing well.

I've been in the homeless situation before too. For my first degree I had to make the choice between having money for rent or tuition and I chose tuition... in a town where it was illegal to be homeless, I got real good at finding places to hide from cops at night since my record is clean. For the poor, there are educational opportunities out there, I've gotten a lot of help to get somewhat educated.

I'm always skeptical of the job training centers though. I've never used one, but I have taught the occasional class in them. Speaking just from what I saw and what I taught (Office software), the training tends to be highly localized to just a few mid tier entry level employers in the area. Now, this might not sound bad but from a mobility standpoint it's awful. If like me, you're in the poorest area of the country, these aren't skills that offer you the ability to move and gain any social mobility, they just tie you to where you are.

I will be very surprised if these job training centers ever bring down the wages of people who are doing well. They take you out of fast food, give you the most basic of skills, and sit you in an office for a wage that's not all that much different... maybe $15/hour instead of $10.

I'm an all of the above person with education reform... 4 years, 2 years, trade schools, job centers, and all the rest. It takes a multifaceted approach to fix it. And while I see these job centers helping, if everyone goes the people who attend them are still going to be the least overqualified people to stock shelves or flip burgers and that's exactly where they'll end back up.

yea it's a good thing, those machines don't goof up and steal from the hand that feeds. don't need paid vacations or sick days. if we were not so dumb we'd embrace it and use it to our advantage, but instead we get complainers who can't make their selves useful.

It all comes down to what it has always come down to: an individual's capacity to meet the demands and persevere. The people who distinguish themselves the most generally make the most.

However, it's possible machiens and AI displace us somewhat. It's possible we create something which outpaces us. I don't think it's likely since if it could we'll regulate it, but we may fail to.

My feeling is we will become more like machines ourselves, behaving like them, in the same time we find ways to modify the body and utilize AI. If AI becomes better than biology then we will find a way to replace our brain with it. Maybe we'll use nanotechnology to essentially map/copy the brain and to consume as foodstuff hte leftover biological matter. Then it's just a matter of keeping the body alive or replacing parts.

Am I know the only one thinks machines/computers are making us behave more like machines? We follow so many rules. We have a strict time schedule. We're all more and more like each other because of the shrinking Earth. We're increasingly engineering our mind and body. A strong tendency to romantically favor altruism and socialism or collectivism.

If we DO become machines then maybe we'll lose our emotions? If we don't fear death then what kind of changes will that bring?