This really seemed inevitable regardless of the cost for individual workers. Once you have the software the hardware is a sunk cost and electricity and general upkeep is pretty trivial. Coming up with a system like this is not something you can do at the drop of a hat so surely it had been in progress for years before any arguments were made.
My only issue with the minimum wage laws is that they do create a surplus of demand while reducing supply of workers for those jobs (which happens any time you create a price floor). I see the value from a social policy perspective but I'd much rather have a tired minimum wage system based on age - let's let teenagers work for less for a couple of years to give them some work experience. Australia already does this and it makes a lot of sense to me.
Also, I'd love to put CPAs out of business by just enacting reasonable and simple tax laws . . . it'd never happen, but I can dream.
This really seemed inevitable regardless of the cost for individual workers.
Yeah, that's the other thing. Robots don't strike. Robots don't need breaks (excepting maintenance). Robots don't need personal supervision. Robots can work 24 hours a day. Robots don't need unemployment insurance or workers' comp or health insurance or a salary.
I mean, this is nothing compared to robot shipping trucks destroying the economy (I've seen estimates of 18 million out of work, counting truck drivers and associated jobs like rest stop attendants, hotel workers, etc.), but people are treating it like it's a just reward for uppity menials grasping for coin rather than the thin end of the wedge of the Robot Job Apocalypse.
Also, I'd love to put CPAs out of business by just enacting reasonable and simple tax laws . . . it'd never happen, but I can dream.
If we banned all exemptions, the tax code would fit on an index card!
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I agree robot truck drivers are going to change the economy considerably. But it being the end of the world seems overblown. We managed to get away from local blacksmiths, farriers and night soil men.
On a macro level, ethics aside, putting lots of people out of work by replacing them with cheap robots is fantastic for humanity. Some of the people out of work will find some other way to contribute effectively and the productivity of humanity as a whole will go up.
Add in a bit of ethics and you have a great argument for a government paid living wage.
I recognize I benefit considerably from deductions, but I think at a macro level everyone having their taxes be a one hour checkbox form to fill out would result in huge gains for America. Anti-government sentiment is high enough that anything the government does will be shit upon - that's no reason not to really improve things.
I think there's a reasonable argument that while previous labor disruptions have been about mechanical muscles replacing human (or animal) muscles, the one we're currently just beginning is more about mechanical minds replacing human minds, so we can't look at previous events and necessarily extrapolate forward that the people who are displaced will find new jobs in new industries created by the advance of technology.
Admittedly, a lot of current unemployment is bad allocation of resources and idiotic austerity. Infrastructure improvement and rebuilding could probably employ millions, but no one wants to pay for it.
And yeah, I think the two most likely outcomes are robots do most of the manual labor while people live off of a citizen's wage and engage in creative endeavors (though see Culture Crash for a cynical view of how well that might work), or a nightmare dystopia where the rich live in automated splendor while the poor are locked out of the economy entirely. Which one I think is likely depends on how pessimistic I'm feeling
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My only issue with the minimum wage laws is that they do create a surplus of demand while reducing supply of workers for those jobs (which happens any time you create a price floor). I see the value from a social policy perspective but I'd much rather have a tired minimum wage system based on age - let's let teenagers work for less for a couple of years to give them some work experience. Australia already does this and it makes a lot of sense to me.
Also, I'd love to put CPAs out of business by just enacting reasonable and simple tax laws . . . it'd never happen, but I can dream.
Reply
Yeah, that's the other thing. Robots don't strike. Robots don't need breaks (excepting maintenance). Robots don't need personal supervision. Robots can work 24 hours a day. Robots don't need unemployment insurance or workers' comp or health insurance or a salary.
I mean, this is nothing compared to robot shipping trucks destroying the economy (I've seen estimates of 18 million out of work, counting truck drivers and associated jobs like rest stop attendants, hotel workers, etc.), but people are treating it like it's a just reward for uppity menials grasping for coin rather than the thin end of the wedge of the Robot Job Apocalypse.
Also, I'd love to put CPAs out of business by just enacting reasonable and simple tax laws . . . it'd never happen, but I can dream.
If we banned all exemptions, the tax code would fit on an index card!
( ... )
Reply
On a macro level, ethics aside, putting lots of people out of work by replacing them with cheap robots is fantastic for humanity. Some of the people out of work will find some other way to contribute effectively and the productivity of humanity as a whole will go up.
Add in a bit of ethics and you have a great argument for a government paid living wage.
I recognize I benefit considerably from deductions, but I think at a macro level everyone having their taxes be a one hour checkbox form to fill out would result in huge gains for America. Anti-government sentiment is high enough that anything the government does will be shit upon - that's no reason not to really improve things.
Reply
Admittedly, a lot of current unemployment is bad allocation of resources and idiotic austerity. Infrastructure improvement and rebuilding could probably employ millions, but no one wants to pay for it.
And yeah, I think the two most likely outcomes are robots do most of the manual labor while people live off of a citizen's wage and engage in creative endeavors (though see Culture Crash for a cynical view of how well that might work), or a nightmare dystopia where the rich live in automated splendor while the poor are locked out of the economy entirely. Which one I think is likely depends on how pessimistic I'm feeling ( ... )
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