Interesting article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/education-adequate-defense-against-rise-robots-martin-ford
In the end almost all of us will be out-automated. But I've been hearing wildly short estimates for technological progress ever since I was a little kid, so while I think it will happen someday, I'm not holding my breath in the meantime.
"The job market of the future will consist of those jobs that robots cannot perform. Our blue-collar work is pattern recognition, making sense of what you see. Gardeners will still have jobs because every garden is different. The same goes for construction workers. The losers are white-collar workers, low-level accountants, brokers, and agents." Michio Kaku
The idea was that automation and other technologies would give humans more time for leisure while also making a good living. Paid more, work less. But instead, the gains from technology all flow to the very top, while the workforce sees its income remain flat (even though per capita productivity has rocketed). The robots aren't evil. But the way our economy is owned very much is.
Automation Means Economic Self-Destruction What happens when most or all jobs become automated? Who will buy the products and services that are produced by machines and robots if most or all people are unemployed and have no money? The robots and machines will grind to a halt. Most business owners and entrepreneurs will close their shops and become poor as well. A very bright future for all.
But if the robots serve all of us and we all share in their bounty, we can all benefit. But if those gains all go to a few people, then the system will, as you imply, break down.
Socialism Anyone? The last time I checked, we live in a capitalist free-market society, not a socialist entitlement "paradise". Robots and machines could be harnessed to provide goods and services to all of the population by having the government take away the means of production from entrepreneurs and business owners and then use those resources to provide for the people. But that is socialism if not communism. That is not the American way. Better to have everyone starve to death than to use the means of production to provide for the people (what a horrible thought, yuk). Better dead than red, right? :worried:
Check again. The U.S. is a corporatist mixed economy, in which large corporations and government cooperate for mutual advantage to the detriment of entrepreneurs and consumers, and where there is a system of federal entitlements that requires a significant chunk of GDP to maintain.
Not Socialist Steve, You are correct. However, it is the corporations that really run the government, or at least have a very big say. Many politicians are bought and paid for by big business. Consumers and individual citizens don't matter. But no matter what type of corporatist-capitalist system we have, my point is that socialism / communism is very unpopular in our society and would require a change in mindset of the population to accept, especially by big business. That may be just too distasteful to swallow.