job displacement « Limits to Growth

North Texas: Amazon.com Promotes Its Semi-Automated Warehouses

Amazon has moved in a big way toward automating its “fulfillment centers” where customer orders are processed. It uses the Kiva warehouse system shown in a local TV report (below), in which management is just a bit too cheerful about humans working happily alongside the zippy little machines which bring items to be packed into […]

America’s Senator Jeff Sessions Questions Attorney General Nominee Lynch about Illegal Alien Workers

Sessions’ office posted a one-minute clip of his longer cross-examination in committee of Loretta Lynch, the President’s choice to be Attorney General. He interrogated her about illegal aliens’ non-existent right to take American jobs.

SENATOR SESSIONS: Let me ask you this: In the workplace America today, when we have a high number of unemployed, […]

OSH Robot Is a Sign of Human Worker Phase-Out

Last October, when I blogged about Orchard Supply Hardware’s new retail robots, their description gave the impression of limited functionality: Greeter Robots Are Unveiled in Hardware Stores. These days, they are called “sales assistants.” Apparently the machines are working out.

Below, an OSHbot helps a customer find a desired gizmo. The smart machine costs $50,000 […]

Billionaire George Soros Spent $33 Million to Stir Up Trouble in Ferguson and Beyond

What does it cost to start a race war? Is $33 million in one year enough? Perhaps not quite, judging from George Soros’ efforts to create anger among black Americans against the authorities. Plenty of chaos happened, certainly, and Ferguson the town will probably not recover from the arson and riots it suffered for decades, […]

Another Job Headed for Roboticized Oblivion: Co-Pilot

The report says the contract calls for “an automated assistant” that can fly the plane, so essentially a co-pilot. Presumably the pilot will be jettisoned as well a few years later.

That innovation should be no surprise. The 1980 movie Airplane! had a functioning auto-pilot that worked perfectly well… most of the time.

Of […]

Robot Revolution Expands as Workers Worry

The threat of smart machines to jobs is becoming more recognized as the economy gradually improves but hiring still lags stubbornly behind. During the long recession, businesses have adopted strategies emphasizing “efficiency” which means more computers, automation and robots.

That trend is particularly noticeable in manufacturing, as shown in the graph below.

The good […]

Railroads Push for One-worker Train Operation, with Remote Control to Follow

When I was a kid in the last century, one of my father’s best friends worked as a fireman on the Erie Railroad (even though diesel engines did not require a man shoveling coal to keep the train running). He earned a comfortable middle-class living for himself and his wife from that job.

Now efficiency, […]

Robots Get Smarter in the Workplace

Tuesday’s New York Times included a front-page story titled “Smarter Robots Move Deeper Into Workplace” which described the continuing improvement of technology that allows intelligent machines to perform tasks formerly done by humans.

It’s a decent overview of the present transformation of the means of production of goods and services, including some observations about […]

Congressman Barletta Challenges Administration on Amnesty’s Job Displacement

On Tuesday, the Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing titled Open Borders: The Impact of Presidential Amnesty on Border Security. The Secretary of DHS, Jeh Johnson (see his prepared statement), was the only witness and he pitched the administration’s position that the amnesty is lawful in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

Congressman […]

Amazon.com Robots Are in Place to Process Christmas Orders

Many people will be ordering books and other merchandise from Amazon.com this Christmas. But few realize how robotized the company’s warehouses have become. Key is the Kiva robot system which moves shelves of appropriate items to the human who packs the order for shipment.

Below, Kiva warehouse robots are wired in to a computer system […]

Behold the Imposing Robot Security Guard, Now Deployed at Microsoft

I reported on the surveillance robot last December (Surveillance Robot Is Touted as Security Aid (while It Eliminates Jobs) where the item was described by boosters as being like R2D2, the little fireplug droid in Star Trek. The industry-supplied photo made it look small and unthreatening, suitable for school use because it wouldn’t scare the […]

Greeter Robots Are Unveiled in Hardware Stores

Don’t be surprised if you are welcomed to an Orchard Supply Hardware Store by a robot ready to direct your shopping to the right aisle. Just show the replacement part needed to the machine’s screen and the OSHbot will escort you to the correct spot.

An addition, the robot celebrates diversity by speaking Spanish, so […]

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Limits to Growth