[HOLY S**T!] Technology replacing jobs

[Resilient]

http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-...#ixzz3BpKP1I3l

Big changes are coming to the labor market that people and governments aren't prepared for, Bill Gates believes.
Speaking at Washington, D.C., economic think tank The American Enterprise Institute on Thursday, Gates said that within 20 years, a lot of jobs will go away, replaced by software automation ("bots" in tech slang, though Gates used the term "software substitution").

This is what he said:

"Software substitution, whether it's for drivers or waiters or nurses … it's progressing. ... Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set. ... 20 years from now, labor demand for lots of skill sets will be substantially lower. I don’t think people have that in their mental model."

He's not the only one predicting this gloomy scenario for workers. In January, the Economist ran a big profile naming over a dozen jobs sure to be taken over by robots in the next 20 years, including telemarketers, accountants and retail workers.

Gates believes that the tax codes are going to need to change to encourage companies to hire employees, including, perhaps, eliminating income and payroll taxes altogether. He's also not a fan of raising the minimum wage, fearing that it will discourage employers from hiring workers in the very categories of jobs that are most threatened by automation.

He explained:

"When people say we should raise the minimum wage. I worry about what that does to job creation ... potentially damping demand in the part of the labor spectrum that I’m most worried about."

[-Kev-]

So get into the software engineering/computer engineering/IT fields and you won't have to worry about that.

[Barn]

The poor are screwed.

Wait, that's how it always is and always has been.

[New England]

The poor are screwed.

Wait, that's how it always is and always has been.

yeah, man. we should totally be digging ditches by hand. f#ck excavators, and the people who can afford to buy them, and supply a thousand dollars a day for diesel fuel.

[BrushMyCage]

The poor are screwed.

Wait, that's how it always is and always has been.

is you a commie?

[SlySlickSmooth]

The poor are screwed.

Wait, that's how it always is and always has been.

What do you mean the poor are screwed? My education is pretty damn cheap (close to free) because I take advantage of what is offered to me. With my education I'm going into the computer engineering field.

technology might take the older folks' job, but not mine.

[New England]

is you a commie?

he's a socialist, which is closer to commie-ism than i'm willing to go.

[COVID-19]

http://youtu.be/JpWBhXogzKY

[Barn]

What do you mean the poor are screwed? My education is pretty damn cheap (close to free) because I take advantage of what is offered to me. With my education I'm going into the computer engineering field.

technology might take the older folks' job, but not mine.

Well at least you'll be fine as you had the opportunities. I forgot your life was a decent representation of everyone else's.

I'm not suggesting that we sacrifice productivity hugely. I'd only like it if companies showed even the tiniest bit of compassion and didn't rush to replace their already underpaid workers with even cheaper machines. These companies that can afford to roll out this technology can also afford to be somewhat humanitarians and provide people with livelihoods.

Due to how profit hungry the massive corporations are, it is a lose-lose. Raise the crappy wages you're on and they replace you. So you just gotta suck it up.

I'm also not a fan of replacing things like cashiers with machines, I enjoy the human interaction. I don't want my experience of humanity to be replaced by automated robots.

[New England]

Well at least you'll be fine as you had the opportunities. I forgot your life was a decent representation of everyone else's.

I'm not suggesting that we sacrifice productivity hugely. I'd only like it if companies showed even the tiniest bit of compassion and didn't rush to replace their already underpaid workers with even cheaper machines. These companies that can afford to roll out this technology can also afford to be somewhat humanitarians and provide people with livelihoods.

Due to how profit hungry the massive corporations are, it is a lose-lose. Raise the crappy wages you're on and they replace you. So you just gotta suck it up.

I'm also not a fan of replacing things like cashiers with machines, I enjoy the human interaction. I don't want my experience of humanity to be replaced by automated robots.

compassion? that's a schoolboy word.


what you want are tax breaks for compassionate behavior. nobody is going to involve themselves with the massive risk involved with running a business, from local to multinational, just to be compassionate.


i don't think you get it, frankly. being "profit hungry" is what businesses do. they grow. when they don't, they shrink. when they shrink, they become less competitive. when that happens, competitors show up and take their business. when business goes, layoffs are generally the first thing you see to reduce costs.

naive little schoolboys.