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seriously, all this paranoid talk always pisses me off. Mere job preservation should never stand in the way of progress. Technological progress leads to societal progress.
 
Outsourcing is first step; automation is the last. Cheaper machines after that.

This would be true if you could exchange every worker with a robot. But luckily this is to possible yet. Robots are expensive and tend to fail once in a while. A sick worker is easily replaceable with a healthy one. When the market brakes down you can release workers but not machines. Thats why outsourcing is the step after automation. This is sick!
 
better then the other way around :D

Automatization is the ineviteable next step. The step beyond automatization is outsourcing. But where to go next?

AUTOMATION

(Alan Sherman)

It was automation, I know

That was what was making the factory go

It was IBM

It was Univac

It was all those gears going

Clickity clack, dear

I thought automation was keen

Till you were replaced by a ten-ton machine

It was a computer that tore us apart, dear

Automation broke my heart.

There's an RCA 5-0-3

Standing next to me, dear, where you used to be

Doesn't have your smile

Doesn't have your shape,

Just a bunch of punch cards and light bulbs and tape, dear

You're a girl who's soft, warm and sweet

But you're only human and that's obsolete

Though I'm very fond of that new 5-0-3, dear Automation's not for

me.

It was automation, I'm told That s why I got fired and I'm out in

the cold How could I have known When the 5-0-3

Started in to blink it was winking at me, dear

I thought it was just some mishap

When it sidled over and sat on my lap

But when it said "l love you " and gave me a hug, dear

That's when I pulled out. . . its plug.

Copyright 1963 Curtain Call Productions
 
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be very afraid. if the worlds workforce is mostly replaced by robots, where will we work to make the money, not to mention the disposable income factor, to buy the products these robots produce. looks like the US is on it's way out as an economic super power first-might give us a heads up on reacting to a new world economic order? funny thing is I sent SJ an email a couple times suggesting Apple build a US plant-don't u think the time is now, 76 billion in cash in the bank???
 
That myth - go to college and get a good job - died long, long ago.

If you've had many friends with college degrees, including postgrad, they would be a very exceptional group if they all have good jobs. Chances are a good few of them are working boring and menial jobs far below the level they thought they were going to get, and a good few more are unemployed or barely getting by.

Speak for yourself.

My M.D. degree is a blank check.
 
Speak for yourself.

My M.D. degree is a blank check.

Congratulations. Many of us can't find jobs in the first place anymore, unless you're in very specific industries. That has nothing to do with college education, I'll admit, but it proves that a good education isn't all you need to succeed.
 
Well at least Apple can say they are using less cheap underpaid chinese workers to make the Apple products.

*****************

Seriously that's more people out of work. And I have to agree with the above. No matter what formal training you have, very few options are an instant job. Most people have to struggle to get a good job. That's just part of life these days. And after the August 2nd deadline on tuesday I think it'll get even harder for people to find work and make a decent living. Not just US side but the entire world.

I think this (with the evidence in the quarterly reports) that the US is becoming less and less of Apple's profits. Just a sign of the times. And it's good Apple has invested in international growth. Cause I think the US will have hard times and the international revenue will help Apple keep going as well as they currently are.
 
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That's really too bad, although working conditions werent any good, they were being paid.. I really don't know what to think..

Hopefully they can land better jobs, but if they could they probably wouldn't be working for foxconn in the first place..

Also to the idiot who said they should go to college, I'd like to remind the idiot that its not free =/.. Sorry but saying something like that really pisses me off
 
Good news. Precision. And Robots work for free.


That's really too bad, although working conditions werent any good, they were being paid.. I really don't know what to think..

You don't need to think anything. Automation is a reality. The manufacturing sector is changing. It's been in the cards for decades.
 
If we're going to use robots more often, then why are we assembling things in China. Bring them back to NA.
 
Based on what I'm reading here, a lot of people with graduate and doctorate degrees are upset that they will no longer be qualified to work manufacturing jobs in China.
 
Speak for yourself.

My M.D. degree is a blank check.

Yes, you're better off with it. The manufacturing sector is gradually turning into a dead end for workers, unless they're employed in ancillary positions in the sector.
 
Thus is progress. This is good, IMO-- see Japan. It allows for these people to pursue more... fruitful careers, should they apply the effort accordingly. I'm not saying everyone will get a job, but lower cost items means higher profit margins which means more expansion of business-- that's good, even if it just means buying more robots (thus creating jobs).

I can see where people would dislike this, but thus is progress-- if we wanted to improve employment like some people do here, we could go back to having manual labor for everything. While everyone would then have a job, let's consider the downsides: abuse, poor working conditions, and low salaries. Everyone has a job, but many are ****** jobs. That doesn't sound ideal, does it? Then, as tensions and labor dissatisfaction mounts, the price to manufacture goes up as wages rise and rise... thus resulting in higher end-cost. Therefore everyone will be paying more for all of their manufactured goods, thus resulting in an overall higher cost of living. It's not ideal. Look at it this way: there's a finite amount of money; the way it's shifted around just changes.
 
Not if they run on electricity. Or don't program themselves.

Although, they do not necessarily need lights or heat. And one programmer can likely maintain several dozen of them, even part time.

That's the key. Normal working conditions don't apply for a fleet of robots. You can stop providing just about everything and they'll still run without a hiccup.
 
Well we can all get jobs in substance abuse...

No.... I don't mean get loaded.... But in recovery..

Looks like a growth industry to me....
 
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