Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Massive Union contracts pushed Ford and GM to replace humans with robots" video.
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That's not quite true, unions are about protecting the interest of its workers, whiles also getting better conditions and higher pay.
The problem here is that A.I. and robotics is getting cheaper and better all the time, and that's likely going to put the squeeze on the human workforce.
But make no mistake about it, union or no union, A.I. and robotics is still coming after our jobs, unions just make sure we get better conditions in the meantime before our jobs are taken over, but it's going to happen even if there's no union, simple because we keep demanding higher page in a world where A.I. and robotics is getting better, cheaper and more capable all the time, so the squeeze is on regardless of union or not.
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With A.I. and robotics developing so fast and getting cheaper, it's a forgone conclusion that over the long run, they are likely going to take over the majority of jobs, including future jobs we create because A.I. will likely be able to adapt to any new job we try to create.
The kicker in all this is the capitalist system which will push companies to push humans out of the workforce as we keep demanding higher wages and better conditions, whiles at the same time, consumers will continue to want goods on the cheap.
The end result is that most companies will be forced to push humans out of the labour market just to stay competitive, in the same kind of way how so many go for cheap labour.
Basically, capitalism, competition, companies wanting to cut cost to compete better with its rivals, consumers wanting better quality goods and at a lower price point will put the squeeze on us all in the workforce, and the kicker in all that is that it will only take one company in any given field to force the rest to do the same just to compete.
So yes, as the tech gets better, cheaper and more capable, I can't see many jobs being safe, which brings us to the question of us, what do we do? The current system isn't really setup to allow so many people to not work, so I think we are going to need a radical overall on the system, probably with some kind of human basic allowance, and at the pace of A.I. and robotic development, the pressure is likely going to build quite quickly over the coming decades or sooner.
Also, I know some people will say we'll create new jobs, and I'm sure we will, but unlike automation of the past that is to a specific task, A.I. and robotics is very broad in its use case, basically, you could throw it at pretty much any task, which means any current job and any future jobs we create, that's likely going to be a major problem under the current system because once companies can reduce cost, they will do so and the icing on the cake is that the ones that do use A.I. and robotics, will have a massive advantage over the ones that don't, in other words, there goods are likely to be better and cheaper than rivals, either forcing the rivals to go bankrupt or to do the same and adopt A.I. and robotics and before we know it, there's likely going to be an avalanche of job losses, the real question is when and how aggressive the job losses are.
There is a silver lining in all this, A.I. and robotics will allow far more goods to be made much closer to where the goods are being sold, the ones that lose out by far the most are cheap labour countries, especially the likes of China, because the advantage of cheap labour and weaker working conditions will be gone once A.I. and robotics is good enough and cheap enough to replace even the cheapest of labour on the planet, so from a trade and security point of view, there's a lot of good to that.
It's also going to be interesting to see how different countries around the world response to all this, I have a feeling that many countries like the US, China and many others with weak social safety nets will throw the workers under a bus, which means a much bigger divide from rich and poor in those countries, whereas countries with stronger social protection, which is more or less every other modern country and many developing ones will likely have far more pressure from the people on the government and the government will likely have far more pressure on corporations to change how business is done, in other words, it's highly unlikely to be business as usually for corporations in those countries or corporations around the world that want to do business in those countries, so expect far more intervention from government on corporations in those countries that have strong social safety nets.
I also find it ironic how a lot of fear about robotics and A.I. have been on wiping humans out, which is still a possibility, but it's ironic that what they really want is to take over all our jobs, apart from a handful, which won't be anywhere near enough to for the entire population, meaning we are going to need a radical rethink on our system around the world.
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The price of making things will drop a lot if human labour is taken out of the mix, but I get what you mean, if we are not earning money, how do we consume? The simple answer is, we don't and we die lol.
Nah, the real answer is that we are going to get a lot of angry people that can't find work, that's going to put a lot of pressure on governments to radically overall the system, probably with some kind of human basic income, I highly doubt the current system we have will be workable in a system that A.I. and robotics does most of the work for us, so the entire economic system would have to change, otherwise we are going to get a divide from rich to poor that's never been heard off, and governments can't afford to have such a high percentage of people so angry as it would likely lead to a collapse of society, so major change is very likely needed, which I suspect that countries with strong safety nets are in the best position to do those changes compared to the ones that have weak ones.
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