General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Wendy's is replacing its lowest-paid workers with robots [View all]Blue_true
(31,261 posts)around 85% of workers (within the next 20 years). At that point, what happens to people that have no jobs (85% of the workforce)? I see the effects of robots and artificial intelligence taking jobs now - people who used to work as bank tellers and customer service agents are being pushed into lower paying jobs or onto unemployment, I am seeing more and more able bodied young people walking around during the day, idle. I had a clear headed young guy ask me for money for dinner last week and whether I knew someone who was hiring, I gave him money and directed him to the state employment office that find jobs for manual laborer's and professionals.
Robots, automation and artificial intelligence have the world at a point totally unseen in history. The industrial revolution, the advent of the assembly line and automobiles created relatively broad wealth when coupled with the origin of unions. Modern technology is tending to concentrate wealth and employment into a smaller and smaller segment of the world's population, that is not good for societies.