Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
At some point, the law of diminishing returns will come into play and margin squeezes will no longer be possible. Couple that with a plateau in iPhone demand, and what will be Apple’s safety net? More stock buybacks?
When everyone is automated out if a job by ai and robotics who will buy the iPhones or will we saunter along to the iPhone bank run by the apple charity thence to the pizza express charity for a bite to eat and along the British airways charity for a flight to a sandals charity resort somewhere. We can then enjoy ourselves with all the other unemployed bums.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: Dj64Mk7
At some point they'll have to ask who will be left that can afford to buy new iToys to keep the coffers growing?
Assembly line jobs are a torturous relic of the industrial revolution. Did you know that for much of human history people only worked a day or two per week on average?
 
When everyone is automated out if a job by ai and robotics who will buy the iPhones or will we saunter along to the iPhone bank run by the apple charity thence to the pizza express charity for a bite to eat and along the British airways charity for a flight to a sandals charity resort somewhere. We can then enjoy ourselves with all the other unemployed bums.

Yep, A Star Trek life (one without need for money, where resources are effectively infinite, anything you want can be instantly 3D printed, and people work only because it is fulfilling) is not around the corner.
 
Big corporations are going to destroy the world.
The world needs regular and simple jobs like manufacturing and retail, without them poverty will increase.

I know these robots create some higher paid jobs, but it eliminates many more.

We are putting our happiness in getting new and shiny things on a yearly basis. Getting into debt while doing so. And all money goes to the same big corporations that own the big companies.

We supposedly live in the best "world economy" ever. But honestly, people don't seem to be happier than before.
A wise man said that to have prosperity in our lives we first need (inner) peace.

We tried the other way around for thousands of years, and it never worked. And to quote this guy once again: "it's time to give (inner) peace a real chance"
 
Assembly line jobs are a torturous relic of the industrial revolution. Did you know that for much of human history people only worked a day or two per week on average?
That's not really true. Survival isn't a day or two a week, survival is pretty much full time.

It's more accurate to say that, before the industrial revolution, it was very hard for people to quantify how many hours they worked a week because 1) clocks were not nearly so popular and 2) it was much harder for people to draw a distinction between "working hours" and "non working hours". It wasn't that people only worked two or three days a week, but there was far less separation between work and life.

EDIT: It's also worth remembering that they was a hell of a lot less people on the planet, and a hell of a lot less consumer goods. There was less competition for "money", as a lot of wealth was in land and inherited titles, rather than in cash. Life or death was about food/shelter and health, not about currency.
 
Last edited:
This isn't the end of the world. Robotics has been used for decades in auto manufacturing. People will still be needed to service the robots and for other parts of the supply chain.
 
This is good. Anyone who has worked any type of line job should know that it is not the type of work we should strive to keep around.

I have different feelings about self checkouts, AI support bots etc. I feel part of the purpose of those points of interaction is the human aspect.

Just my opinion.
 
This isn't the end of the world. Robotics has been used for decades in auto manufacturing. People will still be needed to service the robots and for other parts of the supply chain.

Yes, but that needs active retaining and creating a structure for those jobs. It won't happen by itself.

The collapse of the car manufacturing industry and coal mining in the UK was a good example of that.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Dj64Mk7
Yup.
24/7, no time off and no suicide nets.

Win Win for Tim!

You know, the Foxconn you are referencing is the size of an actual city, with living, shopping, restaurants, entertainment, etc. And for all people’s dumb, tired jokes about the nets, even without them they had a far lower rate of suicide than any American city. Perhaps we aren’t exceptional after all.
 
You know, the Foxconn you are referencing is the size of an actual city, with living, shopping, restaurants, entertainment, etc. And for all people’s dumb, tired jokes about the nets, even without them they had a far lower rate of suicide than any American city. Perhaps we aren’t exceptional after all.

No-one's exceptional (or everyone is equal exceptional, which amounts to the same thing for this discussion).

Whether Chinese mega-factories are appropriate or not in China doesn't affect that, in my opinion, many workers in the Western world not be happy work in that environment, and I honestly don't believe western workers would maintain the same levels of productivity.
 
Assembly line jobs are a torturous relic of the industrial revolution. Did you know that for much of human history people only worked a day or two per week on average?
Yes that’s true but that was when society was much fairer and was supportive. The assembly line workers will be thrown out of work and gave no other options won’t be thanking apple if their employers when they can’t pay the bills. I can assure you if that. We need a different economic model.
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: Le0M and cjsuk
Yes that’s true but that was when society was much fairer and was supportive. The assembly line workers will be thrown out of work and gave no other options won’t be thanking apple if their employers when they can’t pay the bills. I can assure you if that. We need a different economic model.

It really wasn't fairer or more supportive. But people weren't as mobile, so new workers couldn't be easily flown or shipped in when old workers left. So employers had to maintain long-term relationships with staff.

It wasn't paradise, by any means. But there was more job security.
 
Last edited:
Is the rise of machinery going to save us from slavery and give us a utopian future as promised?

No it's going to concentrate wealth and leave a lot of people hungry.

Pretty much all business since the early 1980s has been focusing on concentrating wealth and leaving a lot of people hungry. Blame bloody Milton Freedman, Ann Rynd and all those who read what they wrote and thought economic neoliberalism ( basically deregulating as much of industry and finance as possible) sounded like a nice idea.

It's not new and it's not going to stop of its own accord.
 
Last edited:
Assembly line jobs are a torturous relic of the industrial revolution. Did you know that for much of human history people only worked a day or two per week on average?
I'm guessing you never lived on a farm. You work every single day of the week (unless you respect ancient religion and take one day off).

People used to work every day for survival. Now people lay around watching TikTok and complaining about having to work.
 
I'm guessing you never lived on a farm. You work every single day of the week (unless you respect ancient religion and take one day off).

People used to work every day for survival. Now people lay around watching TikTok and complaining about having to work.

That's a common but dishonest appraisal of the situation.

Reality is that ignorant folk are unaware of their own immediate insecurity, are nested deeply in debt and dependency on others and hanging on a fine thread which can go snap at any time on the will of someone who bears no consequence for pulling it. That applies to both the TikTok folk and the factory workers in China.

And you.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Dj64Mk7
Major changes in society will have to happen for happiness to return. Buying the latest hardware every year isn't going to bring happiness.

For example, when I first started seeing AI coming into mainstream it was pitched as something that would handle all the boring mundane tasks so humans can focus on things they love and express creativity, etc. Then I see AI for music, movies, photos, and I start to wonder, if that is also replacing pure creativity what do they expect specifically these 'creators' to do?

It's a really odd time, and I've been pro-tech for the majority of my life as I've watched it evolve. I'm definitely not into it like I used to be, I feel cheated by it now.
We just need to get rid of capitalism that only allows things to exist when they are profitable. It is not a economic system given by nature or god.
 
Do you want to work on a factory floor or in retail?
Factory floor. The only way you can get me to work retail is if I get to fight a customer once a month.
1694179185144

I don't. I hate dealing with people.😑
 
We just need to get rid of capitalism that only allows things to exist when they are profitable. It is not a economic system given by nature or god.

Hmmm. The problem is that the alternatives to capitalism might sound good in theory, in practice... less so.

I've had some direct experience of countries that were officially NOT capitalistic. I wouldn't recommend living in one.

The best we can manage is some kind of regulated capitalism, capitalism with checks and balances to reduce the extremes of rich and poor.

But, given the reaction of many commenters here when any type of brake or restriction is put on big tech, I don't think a non-capitalistic or a regulated capitalistic solution would go down well.

As for systems given by nature or god, no human system is given by nature or god. Human systems, no matter how good or bad they are, are only ever made by humans. And, when it comes down to it, humans are not particularly fair or empathic.
 
Yes, companies manufacture products to sell. But there needs to be people with enough disposable income to buy the things that are manufactured. People get an income from working.

Marx explained this in Das Kapital and had a solution
 
Hmmm. The problem is that the alternatives to capitalism might sound good in theory, in practice... less so.

I've had some direct experience of countries that were officially NOT capitalistic. I wouldn't recommend living in one.

The best we can manage is some kind of regulated capitalism, capitalism with checks and balances to reduce the extremes of rich and poor.

But, given the reaction of many commenters here when any type of brake or restriction is put on big tech, I don't think a non-capitalistic or a regulated capitalistic solution would go down well.

As for systems given by nature or god, no human system is given by nature or god. Human systems, no matter how good or bad they are, are only ever made by humans. And, when it comes down to it, humans are not particularly fair or empathic.

Nailed it. 100% agree.

No extreme ideology be it political or financial serves anyone well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nt5672

Report: Apple Demands Users Switch to Robotics for Using iPhones​


Apple has said users aren't wearing out their iPhones quick enough, and hence aren't upgrading as frequently as possible. Users must ensure their phones are used 24/7 by robots trained to randomly drop the phones and get them wet at least once a week.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Shirasaki
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.