Are workers being replaced by robots?

[Philosophy Explorer]

Based on the latest stats for the US, I would say the answer is no. However who knows what the future may bring? (you should Google Boston Dynamics to get some idea)

PhilX

[FlashDangerpants]

Workers are routinely replaced by machines, the recently popular name for such machines is 'robots', a term which doesn't actually mean very much.

The combine harvester is a machine that has replaced tens of millions of workers on a global basis since the time it was created. In doing so it made food cheap, that is because replacing human labour to get work done makes the resultant product cheaper. The combine harvester is not routinely referred to as a robot only because it was invented a few years before that word became popular.

Hopefully nobody here, even those who consider themselves poor, is actually poor enough to think bread is expensive. The reason for that is that is that once upon a time horse pulled ploughs made it cheaper to produce wheat. And then wind powered mills made it cheaper to turn wheat into flour, and then some time after that trucks with petrol engines made it cheap to transport flour to big fucking factories where incredibly cheap bread is made on a production line. But some people eat half a sandwich and throw the rest away, still considering themselves downtrodden, even though in that very act they are living beyond the wildest dreams their many ancestors that would riot if the cost of bread increased by a quarter, because that was enough hardship for them to maybe die.

[Ansiktsburk]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite

[Greta]

Here are the headers and snippets for the first page of a Google search: China workers robots. (Set search for just the last 12 months). I would say the answer to your question is an emphatic "yes".

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Robots Have Replaced Humans in 25% of China's Ammunition ...
futurism.com/robots-replaced-humans-25-chinas-ammunition-factories/
Jan 3, 2018 - China has begun replacing the workers in its ammunition factories with robots. The move will reduce the number of accidents suffered by human workers, and ...

China is replacing humans with industrial robots: the case of Foxconn ...
newint.org/features/2017/11/01/industrial-robots-china
Nov 1, 2017 - Robots are being put to work on a massive scale in China. Taking the case of electronics giant Foxconn, Jenny Chan considers the future for human workers.

Robot Technology Is Taking Off In China | Fortune
fortune.com › International › Data
Aug 23, 2017 - China “hired” more robot workers than any other nation last year. Shipments of robots to the country accounted for nearly one-third of the global total, according ...

Who's going to win? Chinese workers or the robots? - MarketWatch
marketwatch.com › Economy & Politics › Project Syndicate
Apr 5, 2018 - CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Project Syndicate) — As China and the United States engage in their latest trade tussle, most economists take it as given that China will ...

China's factory owners pick robots over job-hopping workers | South ...
scmp.com › News › China › Economy
Jun 20, 2017 - Average monthly wages of Chinese workers reached 4,126 yuan (HK$4,721) in 2015, or US$635, still far behind the US, but almost matching Brazil and ...

Rise of the machines: 12 Chinese robots taking over our everyday jobs
scmp.com › News › China
Jan 24, 2018 - Chinese firm halves worker costs by hiring army of robots to sort out 200,000 ... a quarter of China's ammunition factories have replaced workers with robots or ...

Inside Shanghai's robot bank: China opens world's first human-free ...
theguardian.com/.../shanghai-robot-bank-china-worlds-first-human-free-...
1 day ago - 'Little Dragon' can chat to customers, accept bank cards and check accounts. She joins a growing army of robot workers in China's cities.

China Robots Displace Workers as Wage Spiral Pressures Profits ...
bloomberg.com/.../china-robots-displace-workers-as-wage-spiral-pressure...
Jul 2, 2017 - As he marches through a gritty factory that makes baby strollers and wheels, Hu Chengpeng says finding workers is his number one challenge these days.

China's Robot Revolution May Affect the Global Economy - Bloomberg
bloomberg.com/.../china-s-robot-revolution-may-weigh-on-global-rebala...
Aug 22, 2017 - China's Robot Revolution May Affect the Global Economy ... “Increasing use of robots should be bad news for medium-skilled workers, especially those in ...

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[Philosophy Explorer]

As far as China goes, I read that 60,000 workers in China lost their jobs there during 2016 to robots.

PhilX

[FlashDangerpants]

As far as China goes, I read that 60,000 workers in China lost their jobs there during 2016 to robots.

60,000 is way too low a number. You can't grow an economy of that size at greater than 5% per anum if you only automate away 60,000 jobs per year. You probably read a report about a single company (Foxxconn - the guys who bolt iPhones together) replacing that many workers with machines. Nation wide, they will have replaced a lot more.

This is entirely normal. Think about what a tool is. Ultimately is is a technology that replaces a large amount of human effort to attain some sort of work, with a smaller amount of effort to achieve the same or even more work. Tools have been replacing human labour since the day they were invented because that is the functional definition of what they are. The wheelbarrow replaced human workers, so did the plough. All that happens when robots replace human workers is that a more complex sort of human labour gets replaced than before.

[Eodnhoj7]

There is a documentary somewhere about the automation of coal mines in west virginia. By automation, I mean using technology to change the manner in which the coal is mined. It resulted in the inherent poverty of the areas along with cultural instability. Efficiency becomes inefficient when it replaces not just the human being but the human condition.

[Philosophy Explorer]

As far as China goes, I read that 60,000 workers in China lost their jobs there during 2016 to robots.

60,000 is way too low a number. You can't grow an economy of that size at greater than 5% per anum if you only automate away 60,000 jobs per year. You probably read a report about a single company (Foxxconn - the guys who bolt iPhones together) replacing that many workers with machines. Nation wide, they will have replaced a lot more.

This is entirely normal. Think about what a tool is. Ultimately is is a technology that replaces a large amount of human effort to attain some sort of work, with a smaller amount of effort to achieve the same or even more work. Tools have been replacing human labour since the day they were invented because that is the functional definition of what they are. The wheelbarrow replaced human workers, so did the plough. All that happens when robots replace human workers is that a more complex sort of human labour gets replaced than before.

No probably. That's what I read about China and I regard 60,000 a large number in terms of lost jobs due to automation, the total population is irrelevant to me.

PhilX

[FlashDangerpants]

As far as China goes, I read that 60,000 workers in China lost their jobs there during 2016 to robots.

60,000 is way too low a number. You can't grow an economy of that size at greater than 5% per anum if you only automate away 60,000 jobs per year. You probably read a report about a single company (Foxxconn - the guys who bolt iPhones together) replacing that many workers with machines. Nation wide, they will have replaced a lot more.

This is entirely normal. Think about what a tool is. Ultimately is is a technology that replaces a large amount of human effort to attain some sort of work, with a smaller amount of effort to achieve the same or even more work. Tools have been replacing human labour since the day they were invented because that is the functional definition of what they are. The wheelbarrow replaced human workers, so did the plough. All that happens when robots replace human workers is that a more complex sort of human labour gets replaced than before.

No probably. That's what I read about China and I regard 60,000 a large number in terms of lost jobs due to automation, the total population is irrelevant to me.

PhilX

Just Google "foxconn 60000" Those are the stories you read. The ones with these headlines from 2016...

Foxconn replaces '60,000 factory workers with robots' - BBC News
Apple supplier Foxconn replaces 60,000 workers with robots at China ...
It Has Begun: Apple Supplier Foxconn Replaces 60,000 Employees ...
Foxconn replaces 60,000 human workers with robots - Engadget
Foxconn has replaced 60,000 workers with robots - Geek.com
Foxconn replaces 60,000 factory workers with robots - YouTube

[Philosophy Explorer]

60,000 is way too low a number. You can't grow an economy of that size at greater than 5% per anum if you only automate away 60,000 jobs per year. You probably read a report about a single company (Foxxconn - the guys who bolt iPhones together) replacing that many workers with machines. Nation wide, they will have replaced a lot more.

This is entirely normal. Think about what a tool is. Ultimately is is a technology that replaces a large amount of human effort to attain some sort of work, with a smaller amount of effort to achieve the same or even more work. Tools have been replacing human labour since the day they were invented because that is the functional definition of what they are. The wheelbarrow replaced human workers, so did the plough. All that happens when robots replace human workers is that a more complex sort of human labour gets replaced than before.

No probably. That's what I read about China and I regard 60,000 a large number in terms of lost jobs due to automation, the total population is irrelevant to me.

PhilX

Just Google "foxconn 60000" Those are the stories you read. The ones with these headlines from 2016...

Foxconn replaces '60,000 factory workers with robots' - BBC News
Apple supplier Foxconn replaces 60,000 workers with robots at China ...
It Has Begun: Apple Supplier Foxconn Replaces 60,000 Employees ...
Foxconn replaces 60,000 human workers with robots - Engadget
Foxconn has replaced 60,000 workers with robots - Geek.com
Foxconn replaces 60,000 factory workers with robots - YouTube

You left out the part where this took place in China where the government is devoted to replacing workers with robots. I would post the complete article, but it's copyrighted, so I trust you're not too lazy to look this one up yourself.

PhilX

[FlashDangerpants]

You left out the part where this took place in China where the government is devoted to replacing workers with robots. I would post the complete article, but it's copyrighted, so I trust you're not too lazy to look this one up yourself.

PhilX

Copyright isn't a problem, the article is published and you have fair use rights to quote and link to it.
https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/f ... -fair-use/

[Philosophy Explorer]

You left out the part where this took place in China where the government is devoted to replacing workers with robots. I would post the complete article, but it's copyrighted, so I trust you're not too lazy to look this one up yourself.

PhilX

Copyright isn't a problem, the article is published and you have fair use rights to quote and link to it.
https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/f ... -fair-use/

Not good enough. How do I know that the copyright holder won't make an issue out of it.

PhilX

[FlashDangerpants]

You left out the part where this took place in China where the government is devoted to replacing workers with robots. I would post the complete article, but it's copyrighted, so I trust you're not too lazy to look this one up yourself.

PhilX

Copyright isn't a problem, the article is published and you have fair use rights to quote and link to it.
https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/f ... -fair-use/

Not good enough. How do I know that the copyright holder won't make an issue out of it.

PhilX

Wow. This sounds like an amazingly special article. You should totally post a link. There's no copyright issue that can prevent that.

[wtf]

Based on the latest stats for the US, I would say the answer is no. However who knows what the future may bring? (you should Google Boston Dynamics to get some idea)

Some say you're a bot, Phil.

[Philosophy Explorer]

Based on the latest stats for the US, I would say the answer is no. However who knows what the future may bring? (you should Google Boston Dynamics to get some idea)

Some say you're a bot, Phil.

I wonder when I was replaced?

PhilX