Robots Are Taking All The Jobs!

submitted by EndlessSunflowers from i.imgur.com

sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun
you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

[–]horatioherbert 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (11 children)

This is how technology was introduced, explained and sold to the working class: think of all the free time you'll have with automation doing the work.

[–]wecandobetter 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (10 children)

..and that's exactly the way it turned out. I'm able to work a mere 40 hrs a week (as opposed to the ~119 hr/wk required for a self-sufficient agrarian existence), and be productive enough to earn a comfortable living. Then I go home, exercise, watch mindless television, pursue hobbies etc. The self-maintenance chores I'm required to do are also highly automated and require minimal time and effort. I vacuumed my whole house, did the dishes and laundry, mowed the whole yard, and paid my bills yesterday in <3 hrs. Then I went back to doing thefuckIwant. How has automation not delivered on its promise?

[–]horatioherbert 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

No working class in self sufficient agrarian existence. My point is contemporary working class hasn’t fared well in jobs with advances in technology and you chime in with 10,000 year old agricultural living

[–]wecandobetter 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

....except that agricultural societies only began to emerge 10000 years ago. I'd even argue the process of keeping plants and animals to eat instead of chasing them down is a form of automation.

[–]horatioherbert 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Indeed the knowledge to construct a pen for livestock and using dogs/falcons to hunt is technology, so undoubtedly the overall effect of technology has been positive on humanity(machines of war aside). The post specifically referred to technology putting unskilled people out of work to which I agree. One function of the state is labor

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (6 children)

It is a known fact that serfs worked their fields UP TO 30 hours a week. Source: University economics & history.

[–]wecandobetter 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

Cool and then there was food to process and cook, clothes to sew and clean, tools to work on, buildings to repair and on and on and on...you're missing almost the entire picture of life pre-industrialization.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

Yes, but bad capitalism didn't come and separate us from what we produce. And that is a huge huge huge cost. You enjoy inexpensive food, but if you had to work in an abattoir for a day of your life, you might switch over to very expensive, organic and humane food.

This is just an example of how "automation" separates us from the things we use, and how it breeds ignorance, which is a huge cost and very harmful. You love your Nikes? Spend a day visiting the sweatshops that make them and you may very well cry their weight in tears of sorrow, guilt and remorse. But capitalism and automation HIDES the TRUTH of what we do and what we consume, and that is a HUGE distortion.

Overall, are we actually better off? We're poisoning the world, razing entire ecosystems, torturing animals... But none of these downsides is registered or accounted for by our industrialized consumerist habits. Modern, automation-using, industrialized and capitalist people are less happy than "savages" living on nature.

Add all the benefits AND ALL THE COSTS and look how far ahead we are. We may well be behind.

[–]wecandobetter 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

I have plenty of problems with mindless consumerism and of the terrible cost of the modern standard of living. Furthermore I'll have you know I don't own a single pair of Nikes. I live pretty simply. But this cartoon isn't about any of those things. It's just arguing that automation hasn't given us more free time...but it definitely has.

[–]JasonCarswell 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

It doesn't say "free time". It's interesting how everyone is reading this Rorschach test of a cartoon.

I read it like... "Because you don't own a piece of the means of production."

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That's why they want everyone to become autistic automatons.

[–]JasonCarswell 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

^