Robots Could Wipe out Another 6 Million Retail Jobs

[M76]

Difference between the industrial revolution and the current one is that the job offset was local to the country being offset. Now, it's global.

Imagine the industrial revolution where all of the new equipment/tech/etc. was being made in a far distant impoverished land.

That's the issue with the automation/AI revolution.

I have absolutely no idea what you mean. How is replacing factory workers with assembly lines and machinery more local, than replacing shop clerks with computers? They won't replace every shop assistant everywhere in the whole world right at the same instant. There are some McDonalds that no longer have people taking your order, so it already started and it will go on for decades until the last shop assistant is phased out.

If technological advances no longer make it possible for our economic system to function, then it is not the technological advances that need be frowned upon.
And the solution is not artificially keeping people in hateful jobs, when the job could be done without human slaves.

We're playing an ancient global board game of monopoly. It's the game's rules that need changing when they no longer fit reality, and not the other way around.

The game works perfectly if we pre-suppose that in order to meet everyone's needs, everyone needs to work. But that's no longer true. Due to the said industrial revolution and now due to high levels of automation. It is no longer necessary for the entire population to work full time jobs to meet the needs, or even the wants of the population.

 

[Verge]

Who said it happened now? It happened in the mid 1900s. The point was that nobody ever said they wanted old style unmechanized farming back, or protest tractors in favour of manual farming. So why anyone wants people wasting away their lives as shop clerks, if there is another way?

Until the government pays a living wage, what's your plan for these 6 million people to do for money? You know... so they can like eat food and live.

 

[IcePickFreak]

Until the government pays a living wage, what's your plan for these 6 million people to do for money? You know... so they can like eat food and live.

It's cold in here. Jump in my furnace, peasant, and I will see to it that your family is fed for today.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Has anyone asked farmers if they want to go back plowing the land by hand? Those pesky tractors stole their jobs! The land that previously needed 100 farmers now can be handled by a tractor and a harvester all with neat GPS control, you don't even need a driver in the cab anymore.

Has anyone asked all the farmers who were working on the land and weren't the ones who owned it if they want to go back to plowing the land by hand? Here's a hint... the tractors did not take the land owners job, it took the jobs of those who were employed by the land own, kind of like how auto checkout will not take the job of the owners of Walmart.

Translation: You're analogy = the fail.

 

[KarsusTG]

Has anyone asked farmers if they want to go back plowing the land by hand? Those pesky tractors stole their jobs! The land that previously needed 100 farmers now can be handled by a tractor and a harvester all with neat GPS control, you don't even need a driver in the cab anymore.

Those were not farmers doing that labor, those were field hands employed by the farmers...

 

[M76]

Has anyone asked all the farmers who were working on the land and weren't the ones who owned it if they want to go back to plowing the land by hand? Here's a hint... the tractors did not take the land owners job, it took the jobs of those who were employed by the land own, kind of like how auto checkout will not take the job of the owners of Walmart.

Translation: You're analogy = the fail.

You just demonstrated that it works on both levels. It's irrelevant who is the owner of the land or the factory, the jobs are taken either way. And something needs to be done about it.
Smugness does no favours in making a point. Especially if you have no point.
Your failure in understanding the analogy doesn't mean the analogy is wrong.

 

[M76]

Those were not farmers doing that labor, those were field hands employed by the farmers...

Still not relevant to the point I was making. Do I really need to spell it out? Or who else wants to dance around words, while ignoring the real issue?

 

[KarsusTG]

Still not relevant to the point I was making. Do I really need to spell it out? Or who else wants to dance around words, while ignoring the real issue?

How is it not relative? Yes, those tractors wiped out A LOT of farm labor requirements. Now modern farms with gps guided machinery needs much less labor to operate. You are fooling yourself if you think the farmer is the one doing all the work on those 100k acre farms though...

The same is happening here. This tech is going to wipe out the majority of the jobs. Not all, but the majority.

 

[Trimlock]

That is the main plot behind the sci-fi book Steel Beach.

In the book, CGI characters or overlays in movies are banned in order to protect jobs forhuman actors, so alien or fantasy characters have to be created though surgical modification of the actors, including things like turning them into centaurs. ( the main character complains about putting the actors through months of physical therapy in order to walk on their new horse legs, only to have them mumble though their lines)

There are also places called "disneylands" that are period-accurate snapshots of history (such as the 'wild west'), and people can choose to be part of that as a 'live-in role-player' for thier job.
Everyone is guaranteed a job if they want one, no matter how useless the job may be. (one person in the book lives in a disneyland as a wild west parody of the perpetually-drunken sawbones)

It all goes great until the central AI in charge of everything goes insane.

Awesome, I'll check the book out.

 

[Verge]

It's cold in here. Jump in my furnace, peasant, and I will see to it that your family is fed for today.

I'm sitting at a bar laughing over that.

The time of reckoning is coming, nerds are quickly ruling the world.

 

[Cyraxx]

I think we're far away from retail job losses. First will be desk jobs and driving jobs. If you're an accountant or a taxi driver, you're going to lose your job within the next 5-10 years.

As someone that works in fields very much related to accounting, I can tell you they aren't going away anytime soon.

I don't say that with any type of bias like it's my exact field, but I actually implement systems for automation purposes related to ERPs, etc... Believe me, they aren't going anywhere heh. No system implementation is that straight forward.

 

[Cyraxx]

I'm actually in agreement that minimum wage is barking up the wrong tree. It will accelerate the automation trend. What we need is a failsafe so that you can still get by even if your job doesn't pay enough and there aren't better ones available..

The problem is that you CAN get by with minimum wage already. The difference is, you aren't ENTITLED to living in a single apartment with 4 rooms (kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom). You MIGHT have to do what just about each and every single one of us did at one point and share an 4-bedroom apartment with multiple people.

I did it in college, why is it that if you have a job that you are immune to such HORRIBLE treatment of sharing an apartment?

Same goes for transportation, I have simply lived WELL below my means throughout life - even as my income has climbed substantially. I still live in the same house accruing equity, and I still drive my same clunker car until the wheels fall off.

Entitlement is what is ruining jobs.

 

[NickJames]

The push for $15/hr min wage is just driving automation and job loss. A McDonalds wage was never meant as a living wage, it was for young workers to get experience and a starting wage.

I don't know where you got that information from. Minimum wage used to be very livable. I rather have a productive member of society than an unproductive one.

 

[sir-gold]

I don't know where you got that information from. Minimum wage used to be very livable. I rather have a productive member of society than an unproductive one.

In support of your comment, here is a (slightly old) minimum-wage chart adjusted for inflation.