automation « Limits to Growth

Business Is Thrilled That Automation Raises Productivity, but Doesn't Mind Mass Unemployment

How is an economy supposed to function when human workers are becoming obsolete because of smart machines in the workplace? Leisure time is certainly nice, but humans require money for acquiring goods and services. Curiously, the captains of industry don’t seem to notice the consumption part of the economy equation, and when people don’t get […]

Smart Machines Take More White Collar Jobs, So Importing H-1b Workers May Not Be Necessary

Robots have been moving into factories and farms to perform tasks earlier done by human workers.

Below, factory robots weld and assemble cars without a human in sight.

But machines and software are getting smarter at a rapid rate. As automation expert Andrew McAfee notes in the video following, a lot of people now use software to […]

WPost Suggests Presidential Candidates 'Reckon with Robots', but Ignores Resulting Need for Less Immigration

With mainstream media, you are lucky to get half a loaf, and a recent Washington Post item is a prime example. The piece noted how the increasing use of smart machines performing complex workplace tasks has been negatively affecting employment, and automation should therefore be a matter of public debate in the upcoming Presidential campaign.

That’s […]

Report: Factory Robots Will Increase in Near Future

Many factory floors can look like lonely places today, if you expect to see human workers. The assembly line designed by Henry Ford created jobs for thousands of Americans, but recently those workers have been replaced by machines.

Then:

Now:

There’s a workplace revolution happening now from manufacturing plants to offices. A 2013 report from the Associated Press […]

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 […]

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 course in 1980, […]

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 news is that […]

Nebraska Hispanic Sob Story of Poverty Is Headlined

Sunday’s Omaha Herald has a front-page article railing against worsening hispanic poverty in the state, with an appropriate sob story graphic of an adorable dark-eyed child with a bag of spuds. So subtle.

But wait. Nebraska had the second-lowest unemployment rate in the nation as of November, just 3.1 percent, compared with the national rate of […]

Minimum Wage Convinces Companies to Replace Humans with Machines

On Saturday, Fox News’ financial show Bulls & Bears discussed how laws for the minimum wage have had the unfortunate effect on workers of spurring more rapid automation.

The financial talking heads babbled along, with film of robot and computer gizmos playing along side. The machines include a hardware store greeter/guider, Amazon’s automated warehouse, restaurant ordering […]

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 the affects […]

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 that […]

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 […]

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Limits to Growth