Technological advances and the future of the economy
September 14, 2014 at 2:27 pm
(This post was last modified: September 14, 2014 at 3:11 pm by TaraJo.)
This is something I had been thinking about for a while. I've been watching a lot of videos like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb2cI_gJUok
There has been a theme of people being put out of work by technology since the beginning of time. For example, the archers and swordfighters who protected cities were put out of work by gunpowder. John Henry was infamously put out of work by a machine that could build railroads faster (even if it was mythological, it's still kinda the point). Factory workers are being replaced by machines that do their job faster and more effeciently. When we first had elevators, we hired men specificall to opperate them, but now they're obsolete, too.
And it's happening now, too, faster than before. Manufacturing may be completely replaced by machines now that 3D printing exists. Call center work is being replaced not only by cheaper India workers, but by automated switchboards, too. We criticize cashiers for asking for a higher minimum wage because they can be so easily replaced by machines, but those automated check out machines were in place long before anyone was talking about the minimum wage.
The internet alone has destroyed a lot of businesses. I mean, when was the last time you were in a brick and morter bookstore? They've going under, thanks largely to Amazon and Kindle. Anyone remember video stores? Netflix and Redbox have put them under, with Blockbusters bankruptcy being the most famous example. Video game stores are getting rarer and rarer, largely because you can download most of your games now.
And skilled workers aren't out of the woods, either. I mean, stock brokers are nearly an extinct business, largely because everyone can buy any stock they want online with a stock broker program. Accountants are getting far less business because of Turbo Tax and other related programs. A diagnosis program could do a doctors job as well as a doctor, maybe even better since the program doesn't have to eat, sleep or any of those other biological urges humans tend to have. The majority of the work lawyers do can be done by machines, too.
Creative fields aren't out of the woods, either. Machines can compose music, they can create art, they can do a lot of things we consider art. I mean, Gollum and Groot were both very popular in movies, even though both were CGI creations. Japan already has CGI singers who seem to be fairly popular. We've even replaced creative fields before, seeing as how we don't need artisans to make the clothes we wear or the furniture we use. Even creative fields aren't exempt from obsolsence at the hands of technological advancement.
So, assuming every type of work humans can do is eventually going to be obsolete because of machines who can do the same work better, where does that leave us? We live in a society where you're told that you have to work if you want to eat, but what if there isn't any work? What do you do when you can't work because machines are doing the work you would willingly do? I mean, if we stick with the idea that people have to work to survive or to get more than just the basics of survival, we're going to have a lot of unhappy, displaced would be workers who are pissed about having to live in vastly underfunded shelters, not to mention I can't imagine a free, democratic society allowing the overwhelming majority of its people live in dirt.
What do you think is the future of our economy when machines make workers completely obsolete?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb2cI_gJUok
There has been a theme of people being put out of work by technology since the beginning of time. For example, the archers and swordfighters who protected cities were put out of work by gunpowder. John Henry was infamously put out of work by a machine that could build railroads faster (even if it was mythological, it's still kinda the point). Factory workers are being replaced by machines that do their job faster and more effeciently. When we first had elevators, we hired men specificall to opperate them, but now they're obsolete, too.
And it's happening now, too, faster than before. Manufacturing may be completely replaced by machines now that 3D printing exists. Call center work is being replaced not only by cheaper India workers, but by automated switchboards, too. We criticize cashiers for asking for a higher minimum wage because they can be so easily replaced by machines, but those automated check out machines were in place long before anyone was talking about the minimum wage.
The internet alone has destroyed a lot of businesses. I mean, when was the last time you were in a brick and morter bookstore? They've going under, thanks largely to Amazon and Kindle. Anyone remember video stores? Netflix and Redbox have put them under, with Blockbusters bankruptcy being the most famous example. Video game stores are getting rarer and rarer, largely because you can download most of your games now.
And skilled workers aren't out of the woods, either. I mean, stock brokers are nearly an extinct business, largely because everyone can buy any stock they want online with a stock broker program. Accountants are getting far less business because of Turbo Tax and other related programs. A diagnosis program could do a doctors job as well as a doctor, maybe even better since the program doesn't have to eat, sleep or any of those other biological urges humans tend to have. The majority of the work lawyers do can be done by machines, too.
Creative fields aren't out of the woods, either. Machines can compose music, they can create art, they can do a lot of things we consider art. I mean, Gollum and Groot were both very popular in movies, even though both were CGI creations. Japan already has CGI singers who seem to be fairly popular. We've even replaced creative fields before, seeing as how we don't need artisans to make the clothes we wear or the furniture we use. Even creative fields aren't exempt from obsolsence at the hands of technological advancement.
So, assuming every type of work humans can do is eventually going to be obsolete because of machines who can do the same work better, where does that leave us? We live in a society where you're told that you have to work if you want to eat, but what if there isn't any work? What do you do when you can't work because machines are doing the work you would willingly do? I mean, if we stick with the idea that people have to work to survive or to get more than just the basics of survival, we're going to have a lot of unhappy, displaced would be workers who are pissed about having to live in vastly underfunded shelters, not to mention I can't imagine a free, democratic society allowing the overwhelming majority of its people live in dirt.
What do you think is the future of our economy when machines make workers completely obsolete?
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"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama
"If you cling to something as the absolute truth and you are caught in it, when the truth comes in person to knock on your door you will refuse to let it in." ~ Siddhartha Gautama
