Will Automation be good or bad for jobs and society?

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Rozellelily

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We are living in the Technology era and there is mention that automation will replace some jobs, or this has already started to happen.
Some people say the automation is good because it will actually create more jobs.
I’m not so sure because, realistically, it’s unlikely those same people that lost those jobs will then be able to do the new jobs.
For example most blue collar factory workers will not have the ability or interest to go and retrain in Coding.

What is your view?
 
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Our economy evolves. Automation doesn’t take jobs from the market. There aren’t a finite number or jobs. This isn’t a zero sum game. We shouldn’t be afraid of automation, we should be afraid of a mindset that doesn’t teach and train to evolve with the market
 
Won’t it reduce though the blue collar jobs and increase the white collar jobs?
If that’s the case then what will the blue collar workers/ex manufacturing workers do for work?
 
I’m “in transition” right now in my career. I’m self-employed, but looking for all kinds of employment situations because business is not good.

But I recognize that jobs are not a given. A job is someone providing their time, energy and expertise to do something someone needs done, in exchange for money. If no one needs the kind of labor a person can provide, there is no employment for them. Anyone who wants a job needs to keep their skills relevant. Job retraining is the answer and it is available. But way too few people take advantage of it.

As to technology, someone has to develop and maintain new tech. That sector is expanding. Do you know there is estimated to be over a million unfilled jobs in the US, right now, just in the area of cyber-security? That will grown to over 3 million unfilled jobs by 2020.

The service sector is also expanding. There are jobs for drivers of all kinds going unfilled, Including truck drivers, delivery drivers and cab drivers. Construction trades are also needing people.

There is also a principle called “high tech, high touch.” It says that the more technological society gets, the more people are willing to spend on personal, tactile activities. Witness the rise of specialized health clubs in the face of technology. People are needed to work in those areas.

So there are opportunities for employment. But workers out of work will need to change something in their profile to get those opportunities. They will need to change their skills, their mindsets, their location, etc. They can’t just sit there and expect their old jobs to come back.
 
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In the short term yes lots of people will lose their jobs and it may take a while to be retrained. There will be great upheaval just like the previous industrial revolution. At the end of it though, everyone is better off economically.
 
It seems like each innovation causes job loss at first, but then something else fills the gap .
There aren’t as many saddle makers and blacksmiths, but there are automobile mechanics and gas station owners
 
@Rozellelily , we need to ensure that technology is at the service of human beings .

There is evidence from what I see of how people use high-tech stuff that it is controlling their lives .

As the Fathers of the Second Council of the Vatican taught , “Human labour which is expended in the production and exchange of goods or in the performance of economic services is superior to the other elements of economic life, for the latter have only the nature of tools… From this there follows for every man the duty of working faithfully and also the right to work. It is the duty of society, moreover, according to the circumstances prevailing in it, and in keeping with its role, to help the citizens to find sufficient employment.”

Technology must always be at the service of these fundamental principles .
 
The problem with automation is it de skills jobs. This limits opportunities for people to train for the sorts of jobs they can make an honest living on. Low skill jobs don’t pay enough these days.
 
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There was a time, not that many decades, ago when a man could support his family on a lower paid job. Then we had the rise of the decline of industry, the rise of the service economy and the explosion of technology. Has the result of this helped lower paid workers to support their families? Has technology helped our working lives or has it actually led to longer working hours with demands for instant contact with employees, clients etc? If this is progress, who is it progress for?
 
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Rozellelily said:
What is your view?
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People have been complaining about automation since the time of Ned Ludd.

Its been quite the positive, raising standards of living incredibly since then. I don’t think that many people really want a job digging ditches by hand, and would just as soon have a backhoe operator do it.
 
My opinion is that stuff has been largely automated for decades and you are many, many decades too late with this topic.

Automation is inevitable and grows the economy. We simply adjust to it. Those who would have been manual laborers in the past must shift to other work.

I’m much happier doing the brain work I do than digging potatoes by hand on a farm and milking cows and chopping wood by hand.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I’m much happier doing the brain work I do than digging potatoes by hand on a farm and milking cows and chopping wood by hand.
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😁 When I was five or six years old, people would say, “Do your homework. Do you want to grow up to dig ditches all day?”

And I would think, ‘What’s wrong with being s ditch digger? I like digging. I’d get to be outside all day digging in the dirt and hanging out with my friends.’
 
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My brother is a welder and mechanic. He completed a two-year trade school certification, and graduated just in time for the Reagan Recession and 25% unemployment in his city. Factories were shutting down all over as their companies moved production to other countries.

But my brother kept looking and eventually found a local CEO who was willing to give him a try. Within a year, he was so valued by that CEO that he was recommended to a visiting artist who needed a welder to teach her how to complete her metal sculptures.

Over the years, my brother has learned to use a computer and other “automation.”

He makes more money that I do (hospital lab technologist). And he doesn’t have to go to a gym to stay in shape.

I think a lot of people who are currently working in skilled trades or even in manual labor (unskilled) willingly learn the new technologies that make their jobs easier and more productive.
 
Most people need to feel of value and work is a good way to achieve that feeling. There is a dignity in labour and it helps to give order to our lives.

As far as I can see the gestalt is towards automating as much as possible to reduce expensive employment of people. This isn’t restricted to machinery but the intent is to replace human operators as well. So as AI improves so admin jobs will disappear. No one will be safe from the drive to increase profits and lower overheads.

In the future this may lead to a decline in world population as people are encouraged to have fewer children and I feel that eventually unemployed masses will be paid credits by the government through high taxes levied on highly automated companies. It may even be that people will become increasingly spiritual and desire less and less ‘things’ and reject consumerism as we know it today.

We have I think a long way to go before the above is realised but I’m sure that’s the way things are going. In the meantime i remind myself that not everyone is of average intelligence, not everyone is capable of constantly relearning new skills, not everyone has the local facilities enabling education etc etc. And I agree that some people actually enjoy digging, sawing, painting timber and sewing socks, as I do.
 
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Yes, it’s important to note that automation can only go so far.

I have to take my car to the mechanic tomorrow. He will use automation to diagnose the car, but if he actually has to fix the brakes or change the oil, he’s going to need to actually use his hands. You can’t just push a few buttons on a console and have that happen.
 
The economy is not a zero sum game. While there is usually a shift that occurs when revolutionary shifts in technology occurs, the overall impact is that you lose jobs in one area only to gain them in new areas. That is why it is important to support education and skills training, to give people the tools to shift into new areas.
 
MonteRCMS said:
But not computer games.
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I’d be careful with that assumption. I don’t play them, but as you say, I do “learn stuff all the time.” Research has shown that computer games:
  • Improve coordination
  • Improve problem-solving skills
  • Enhance memory
  • Improve attention and concentration
  • Improve the brain’s speed
  • Enhance multitasking skills
  • Improve social skills
Aptitude for diverse professions such as surgeons and pilots has been shown to be higher with gamers.
 
jfz178 said:
I’d be careful with that assumption. I don’t play them, but as you say, I do “learn stuff all the time.” Research has shown that computer games:
  • Improve coordination
  • Improve problem-solving skills
  • Enhance memory
  • Improve attention and concentration
  • Improve the brain’s speed
  • Enhance multitasking skills
  • Improve social skills
Aptitude for diverse professions such as surgeons and pilots has been shown to be higher with gamers.
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Lower ability to deal with frustration.
 
You ever played a video game? I find them very frustrating. Anyone who can do them has my respect for dealing with frustration. That’s like saying golfers have a lowered ability to deal with frustration, because you find bent golf clubs in the rough! 🤣
 
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