Google robot is 'the end of manual labor'

[EdwardBernays]

43. what you're talking about

is taxes.

The problem with that is that basing an economy on taxes requires consumers which require jobs.

Long term the unemployment rate is boing to be MUCH higher, because so much of the work currently being done will be replaced by automation and robotics. That's what the industry is pushing for and that's what's happening.

If you are sitting at a desk, driving a taxi or carrying a hod, stop for a moment and ask: could a robot or machine do this job better?

The answer, unfortunately for you, is probably - yes.

The debate about whether machines will eliminate the need for human employment is no longer just academic.

Boston Consulting Group predicts that by 2025, up to a quarter of jobs will be replaced by either smart software or robots, while a study from Oxford University has suggested that 35% of existing UK jobs are at risk of automation in the next 20 years.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33327659

So if 1/3 or 1/4 jobs disappear in the next few decades, the tax base will shrink close to exponentially in that same time period.

And this is not just a western phenomena:

In China’s factories, the robots are rising.

For decades, manufacturers employed young migrant workers from the countryside to work at countless factories in coastal provinces, churning out cheap toys, clothing and electronics that helped power the country’s economic ascent.

Now factories are rapidly replacing those workers with automation, a pivot that is encouraged by rising wages and new official directives aimed at helping the country move away from low-cost manufacturing as the supply of pliant young workers shrinks.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/27/business/tech/robot-revolution-rises-china-factories/

And in small factories:

Robots Work Their Way Into Small Factories

A new breed of so-called collaborative machines—designed to work alongside people in close settings—is changing the way some of America's smaller manufacturers do their jobs.

The machines, priced as low as $20,000, provide such companies—small jewelry makers and toy makers among them—with new incentives to automate to increase overall productivity and lower labor costs.

At Panek Precision Inc., a Northbrook, Ill., machine shop, 21 shiny new robots hum as they place metal parts into cutting machines and remove the parts after they are done. It's a tedious and oily task once handled by machine operators who earn about $16.50 an hour.

One new robot doubled the output from a machine that was previously operated by a worker "because robots work overnight and don't take lunch breaks and they just keep going," says Gregg Panek, the company's president. In some cases, the robots, which are single articulated arms, can even hold a part while it's getting cut since there is no danger of injury.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/robots-work-their-way-into-small-factories-1410979100

And it's not just in manufacturing, but also in the service industry:

McDonald's is rolling out self-service kiosks in restaurants across the US that allow customers to order and pay for their food without ever having to interact with a human.

Some people suspect that the technology is also meant to eventually replace staff as McDonald's franchisees start to worry about rising labor costs.

Bennigan's CEO Paul Mangiamele said in a recent interview that McDonald's kiosks — as well as self-service technologies at other chains like Panera and TGI Fridays — are a direct response to rising labor costs and calls for a higher minimum wage.

"Many, many concepts ... are going to kiosks because we have to address, somehow, the rising costs of operating in our businesses," Mangiamele told Fox Business.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/what-self-serve-kiosks-at-mcdonalds-mean-for-cashiers-2015-8?r=US&IR=T

All of this is being driven by the corporate mindset that growth is the only goal. And that mindset is not going to change any time soon. The rise of automation, as difficult as it may be to accept, is not only real, it's accelerating quickly. These are not classroom predictions, it's something that exists already and is just accelerating.