Community Chat

[hckynut]

@Isobel Archer 

I am wondering how many more posts I will read with contributors saying "replace human jobs with robots"? Wondering if the same was being said back in 2012 when unemployment was what, 12-+15% maybe higher.

Factory jobs/teachers, how about doctors and other medical professions? And tenured college professor with robots? I have been aware of AI for over a decade now, but never thought I would see people wanting to replace human jobs with AI. WOW!

hckynut(john)

[Porcelain]

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@hckynut

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I'm not a fan of creating busy work for people to do. If we're going to do that, might as well just hand out coloring books and pay people to color them. There's a reason we don't have stage coach driver as a profession anymore. When cars became the dominant mode of transportation, we didn't keep all stage coaches in commission just to keep the jobs.

Factories were massively protested against when they first appeared in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Luddites went around destroying factory looms. Because they did not want their happier and less regimented artisanal way of life to be destroyed. But it was destroyed anyway. All to make way for the factory system you worked for.

We live in an age of massive disruption and change. There is no way to stop it even if we wanted to. We can make it humane and decent if we choose to put our energy there. But we can't bring back the buggy whip manufacturers and the pony express. We have to create new ways to make a living.

[Cakers3]

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@hckynut wrote:

@Isobel Archer 

I am wondering how many more posts I will read with contributors saying "replace human jobs with robots"? Wondering if the same was being said back in 2012 when unemployment was what, 12-+15% maybe higher.

Factory jobs/teachers, how about doctors and other medical professions? And tenured college professor with robots? I have been aware of AI for over a decade now, but never thought I would see people wanting to replace human jobs with AI. WOW!

hckynut(john)

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@hckynut   Be prepared for many more.  Since the 1960's there have been calls for Universal Basic Income (UBI) which have yet to be successful.

Better to hand out $1000/month to every citizen rather than combine progressive technology with human workers.  The two are not mutually exclusive.

Obviously we are not back in the days of buggy whips and the analogy above sinks like a stone, imo.

We can find better ways to gainfully employ people and to call for the elimination of all human workers at Amazon, e.g., will increase dependency upon more stifling regulations.

While working conditons in some areas need improvement, better to earn one's living than depend upon somebody else to take care of you.

I agree with your pov; and I also agree that while we face progress with technology, it should never come at the cost to independence.

I guarantee most reasonable persons would prefer to work rather than receive a pittance dole from the gov't.

Yet what most are not recognizing is that this really isn't about robots and humans.  It's about control.

[hckynut]

Thanks @Cakers3 for your post. Your very last sentence, and it's very last word, completely sums it up. 

Look around right now and see "who is doing what" in connection to that very last word.

hckynut 🏒

[Spurt]

"I guarantee most reasonable persons would prefer to work rather than receive a pittance dole from the gov't."

Sorry, I dont think this is true, especially with millenials.....look at all their demanding---free college, free rent, free health care.....(and they are going on the local news expressing these "demands" one contacted our news "troubleshooters"....I thought it was a joke...it wasnt....)

Those I work with just scrape by doing the bare minimum while the rest of us work hard and go above and beyond and help our co-workers so we can acheive our goal and possibly get that bonus....But they don't care, they want to play on their phones instead of working but still get raises and promotions for doing nothing..... that's reality!!!!  And as more and more of us "boomers" retire our company is seeing it too....wondering what to do because the work ethic seems to be slowly going away....So this is where unfortunately automation and technology comes into play....As the old saying goes....be careful what you wish for....It's a two way street GREEDY companies AND greedy employees...

Now I know people will site exceptions ---how their grandchildren, neice, or nephew works hard and is establishing a career and have goals ....but these  are the rare ones raised right.....

[Cakers3]

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@Spurt wrote:

"I guarantee most reasonable persons would prefer to work rather than receive a pittance dole from the gov't."

Sorry, I dont think this is true, especially with millenials.....look at all their demanding---free college, free rent, free health care.....(and they are going on the local news expressing these "demands" one contacted our news "troubleshooters"....I thought it was a joke...it wasnt....)

Those I work with just scrape by doing the bare minimum while the rest of us work hard and go above and beyond and help our co-workers so we can acheive our goal and possibly get that bonus....But they don't care, they want to play on their phones instead of working but still get raises and promotions for doing nothing..... that's reality!!!!  And as more and more of us "boomers" retire our company is seeing it too....wondering what to do because the work ethic seems to be slowly going away....So this is where unfortunately automation and technology comes into play....As the old saying goes....be careful what you wish for....It's a two way street GREEDY companies AND greedy employees...

Now I know people will site exceptions ---how their grandchildren, neice, or nephew works hard and is establishing a career and have goals ....but these  are the rare ones raised right.....

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@Spurt   They are making demands because they are being TOLD to make these demands.  The millenials are being replaced by Gen-X, btw.  The label "millenials" as to the ones with all the demands is not quit accurate.

We are constantly hearing wipe out student loans, free education, free health care, free free free.

I respect your perspective but I strongly disagree.  When students are allowed to cry and color in "safe" rooms, there you have it.

If my son did that?  I would have been up there kicking his snowflake rear end back to class.

  Food, shelter, health care, human rights absolutely should be a priority.

Nobody is entitled to a free ride.

Yet the "free" is minimal.  One does not live better in sub-standard housing (often controlled by gangs), one does not live better on food stamps, one does not live better because free does not guarantee a better life. 

These demands are fostered by political agenda.  We have seen it time and time again, have we not?

The "troubleshooters" panders lately, too.  I know that segment.

I agree people scrape by-I certainly did as a single parent for a long time. 

But these demands are loud talk with no substance and if they (heaven forbid) come to pass those who whined about it will be hit with some very cold water in their faces because it will not be what they thought it would be.

We only see those making those demands; we don't see the media promoting the hard working and the other side of this issue.

There is the problem; we see millenials and onward generations with no clue; we see millenials and onward generations holding signs and regurgitating plans pounded at them by clueless "adults" who know deep inside they will never be able to deliver all of this.  The agenda is for personal gain, not for the citizens.

We also see some left-over hippies from the '60's.

I dismiss the yammering and I strongly disagree that most are looking for a free hand-out.  I still maintain people prefer to work.

Thank you for a response that was respectful without name calling and assuming the worst about me and my post.  It's refreshing to dialogue with you and others who can maintain their pov's on a gracious and mature level.

[dooBdoo]

I recommended this a few months ago, a powerful documentary, "FRONTLINE: In the Age of AI" (Season 2019 Episode 17 | 1h 54m 16s | aired 11/05/19).   I'm going to watch it again, maybe again after that.   

It's brimming with information, not an "easy" or relaxing viewing experience, but in my opinion it's real and practical knowledge we need to have moving forward and directly related to one of the sub-topics of this thread.   

I know this sounds like "Captain Obvious," but speaking for myself this is far more complex than some of us realize or imagine.

please copy and paste link:

pbs.org/video/in-the-age-of-ai-zwfwzb/

At the moment it's available at no charge on YouTube, also.

please search for

"In the Age of AI (full film) | FRONTLINE"

or

copy and paste link:

youtube.com/watch?v=5dZ_lvDgevk

[bikerbabe]

Should the reactionary call for “free” be any surprise in an age when rents can be thousands of dollars a month, college can put someone in six-figure debt, and medical costs are a leading cause of bankruptcy, assuming one can even afford medical care and prescription costs? It seems to me we’ve failed ourselves and our kids with the current system.

Technical college often costs more then traditional college. Community colleges are underfunded- it can take 5 years to finish a 2 year degree because of waiting lists to get basic classes.

I don’t advocate free everything but even basic living expenses are out of reach and there are some who would begrudge any kind of raise to pitiful minimum wages.

[Greeneyedlady21]

I thought this would be about Amazon, but it turned out to be a bunch of political posts. 

[Cakers3]

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@bikerbabe wrote:
Should the reactionary call for “free” be any surprise in an age when rents can be thousands of dollars a month, college can put someone in six-figure debt, and medical costs are a leading cause of bankruptcy, assuming one can even afford medical care and prescription costs? It seems to me we’ve failed ourselves and our kids with the current system.

Technical college often costs more then traditional college. Community colleges are underfunded- it can take 5 years to finish a 2 year degree because of waiting lists to get basic classes.

I don’t advocate free everything but even basic living expenses are out of reach and there are some who would begrudge any kind of raise to pitiful minimum wages.

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@bikerbabe   Wasn't the ACA supposed to take care of all the medical issues in this country? 

Believe me, DH and I are not living free medically speaking.

What do you propose to be a reasonable rent?  People do not understand that rents are not controlled only by big corporations.

There are small income landlords who are also losing out and possible losing not only a small rental property but their own homes as well.

As far as minimum wage, I agree to a point. But it should be a reasonable discussion, not a demand just because one is TOLD it should be that way.