The Lowes Robot (1 Viewer)

[hagmania]

I don't regard this as a concern. Robots are fine for behind the scenes jobs but when it comes to anything that involves human interaction, people will always prefer other people. A robot at a department store is an attraction; a novelty act. I don't believe it will ever be anything more than that.

Actually Tim research suggests people are fine with robots as long as they retain their robotness. The more they look like humans the less humans like them. C3PO is fine. However a robot or android that looks almost human but is a bit off is a big put off.

Uncanny Valley is the phenomenon

 

[Dippa]

If the main hurdle is affordability, I don't see why they feel the need to make them self-propelled with navigation systems that cost thousands of dollars. Why not just do something like a specially programmed tablet/LCD attached to shopping carts? It could offer many of the same features and would surely be far more cost-effective.

It would actually be pretty cool if it could keep track of what is in your cart and you pay on the tablet when you are finished shopping, for example.

 

[hagmania]

I think you guys are missing my point a little bit. Why do people go to stores in the first place when they can buy just about anything they want on the internet these days and have it delivered to them, often for cheaper? Why do they go to the movies when they can simply watch television, and order whatever movie they want? Why do they go to public restaurants, when it is much cheaper to purchase the food you want at a market and prepare it yourself, or order it made and delivered?

The answer to all these questions, according to sociologists, is the same: because people enjoy human interaction. Most people like being in a crowd of other people (despite constant assertions that they don't.) So as I wrote, you can have a few robots at your store helping people out, for convenience and novelty, but if you're imagining a large department store filled with robots with almost no humans helping the public, forget it. That's never going to happen, no matter how much money it might eventually save.

The only reason I go to a store is if I want something now, or I'm buying groceries.

Once Amazon offers fresh produce and their drones on a same-day delivery schedule, I might not step across a store threshold again.

 

[cstu]

Childless, so I guess I'm in the clear. *whew!*

Maybe folks can just...I dunno...urge their kid to aim higher than "Lowes Lumber Guy?"

(So, where's my hardware store-robot-parade-float-thingie again? I could use some 10 penny nails. Or maybe some new Sunbrella shades.)

Crazy talk.

 

[cstu]

I think you guys are missing my point a little bit. Why do people go to stores in the first place when they can buy just about anything they want on the internet these days and have it delivered to them, often for cheaper? Why do they go to the movies when they can simply watch television, and order whatever movie they want? Why do they go to public restaurants, when it is much cheaper to purchase the food you want at a market and prepare it yourself, or order it made and delivered?

The answer to all these questions, according to sociologists, is the same: because people enjoy human interaction. Most people like being in a crowd of other people (despite constant assertions that they don't.) So as I wrote, you can have a few robots at your store helping people out, for convenience and novelty, but if you're imagining a large department store filled with robots with almost no humans helping the public, forget it. That's never going to happen, no matter how much money it might eventually save.

The only reason I go to a store is if I want something now, or I'm buying groceries.

Once Amazon offers fresh produce and their drones on a same-day delivery schedule, I might not step across a store threshold again.

Not by drones but AmazonFresh does exactly that. I'm on a free trial and ordered lightbulbs at 9am on Saturday and they were here by 3pm.

 

[hagmania]

Not by drones but AmazonFresh does exactly that. I'm on a free trial and ordered lightbulbs at 9am on Saturday and they were here by 3pm.

Time to become a hermit. I'll resume civilized life for movies and restaurants.

 

[FigJam]

As we all know robots have taken many manufacturing jobs. Those people got pushed into service jobs. Uh-oh:

Article removed -----


As we have discussed in the past it is only a matter of time before very few jobs require humans. Robots in service industries are going to force workers out despite employers empty assurances. We have a major crap storm headed our way in less than 20 years IMO. We are going to have lots of people and not many jobs. Then what?

They are attacking this from the wrong angle... A management robot with a cattle prod would be much better at removing inefficiencies...

Sounds like robotics would be a super career choice now

 

[Rayderr]

I also want to add that the fears that NC Commish is expressing here have been expressed consistently from the beginning of the industrial revolution with every new form of technology or automation. The tractor would destroy the jobs of farmers. The canals would destroy horse delivery men. The railroads would destroy the canals. And so forth. Every new technology that has been developed has been attacked, not as a job creator, but as a job destroyer, and the prediction that NC made in the OP, that we would end up with many more people than jobs, has been made on each occasion, and even when its been correct at times, that has always been transitory.

You do realize that all those things did exactly what they said they would. Let's take the legal industry. When I started in computers it took 2.5 workers to support an Attorney. Now it takes one worker per 2.5 attorneys. Have you looked at the drop in farm payrolls and the declining employment there of? Takes far fewer people to produce what you eat than it did. And those displaced people moved to manufacturing. Where they got displaced again by robots and moved to the service industry. This isn't the printing press. This is a fundamental societal change that is coming screaming down the tracks at us. And we are ignoring it.

So what's the solution? Stopping technology just so Jimbo doesn't have to learn an actual skill and can instead just flip burgers or scan an item and ask if the customer wants an extended warranty isn't realistic.

The average IQ in this country is 98. That means an awful lot of people aren't that smart. They aren't going to become engineers or even high tech workers. We will always have a lot of Jimbos. I have suggested that we will need to tax corporations pretty heavily as they will have all the money anyway and institute a Basic Income Guarantee for people like Jimbo and really all of us. It doesn't matter what you do there is already a robot that can do it better or there is one being built that will.

So we tax MegaCorp so that Jimbo can sit on his ### and have enough money? That's your solution?

Or I guess they can starve to death in the street. And since so many will be unemployed with no money there won't be any Megacorp either. No demand, no reason for supply. Oh and at some point it may well be that nearly all of us are Jimbo before all is said and done.

Let's be honest. That scenario, in a perfect storm of events would still be hundreds of years away. Why can't Jimbo go be a welder? Or a Plumber? Or a carpenter? There are plenty of jobs out there, jobs that are desperately searching for people willing to learn a trade, that aren't going away anytime soon. Mike Rowe talks about this alot. If you're willing to actually work, there are plenty of opportunities out there. But the reality is, we are a county of lazy bums. We want to get paid like top dollar while putting in minimal effort. These are the people who think they should be getting $20/hr for sitting at a cash register ringing people up. Making these people the trust fund babies of corporations/government is not the solution. When did we get to the point that flipping burgers or telling people paint is in Aisle 3 is a lifelong career? Why isn't that burger flipper going to culinary arts school so they can flip gourmet burgers instead (or heck, maybe work as a sous chef)? Why isn't that person telling you where paint is learning how to actually paint houses? Those jobs don't require high IQs, but they do take work and initiative. Find away to get people up off their asses and losing these menial jobs to automation isn't an issue. Heck, maybe automation is what it'll take for that to happen.

 

[matttyl]

I think you guys are missing my point a little bit. Why do people go to stores in the first place when they can buy just about anything they want on the internet these days and have it delivered to them, often for cheaper? Why do they go to the movies when they can simply watch television, and order whatever movie they want? Why do they go to public restaurants, when it is much cheaper to purchase the food you want at a market and prepare it yourself, or order it made and delivered?

The answer to all these questions, according to sociologists, is the same: because people enjoy human interaction. Most people like being in a crowd of other people (despite constant assertions that they don't.) So as I wrote, you can have a few robots at your store helping people out, for convenience and novelty, but if you're imagining a large department store filled with robots with almost no humans helping the public, forget it. That's never going to happen, no matter how much money it might eventually save.

I'll have to disagree with this answer and give you another answer that I feel better suits each of the three examples you gave - instant gratification.

I went to both a Lowes and a Home Depot this past weekend. Why - cause I needed what I was looking for now, not next week. Why do my wife and I go out to eat at restaurants? Cause we don't have anything to eat in the house and we don't want to go shopping and then come back and cook when we can just go out and eat. Why did I go to the theaters the maybe 3 times I have in the last 3 years? Cause I didn't want to wait the 6-9 months for that particular movie to come out on DVD, I wanted to see that Bond movie as soon as I could.

 

[Insein]

Who knew that Skynet would start at a friggin' Lowes?

I'm still betting on the internet becoming self aware after one too many cat videos is posted.

I can has sentience?

 

[RCon]

I don't regard this as a concern. Robots are fine for behind the scenes jobs but when it comes to anything that involves human interaction, people will always prefer other people. A robot at a department store is an attraction; a novelty act. I don't believe it will ever be anything more than that.

Actually Tim research suggests people are fine with robots as long as they retain their robotness. The more they look like humans the less humans like them. C3PO is fine. However a robot or android that looks almost human but is a bit off is a big put off.

So does this mean R. Daneel Olivaw is out of a job?

 

[Gawain]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

 

[NCCommish]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

 

[Gawain]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

 

[NCCommish]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

 

[GoFishTN]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

Everyone needs a friend.

 

[Insein]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

I feel like we've been here before. It may not be manufacturing but these robots need programmers and maintenance. Yes some robots can build them but maintenance is not an assembly line production. Humans will be needed. Programming and repairing their code, humans will be needed. Not to mention the numerous other areas of society where robots will not be used.

I know Jimbo is a bit worried about losing his cake job at Lowes or McDonalds or where ever, but there's plenty of other minimum skill level opportunities that exist and others that will surely pop up as our society moves forward. Nobody in the 19th century envisioned building and repairing a vast network of highways. Nobody in the 16th century foresaw the need for mass unskilled labor to operate factory line jobs. Something will come up to fill the void.

 

[Jackstraw]

Sure, until they make battery changing robots.

But who changes THEIR batteries....And THEIR batteries....and THEIR batteries.....*head explodes*

people will always prefer other people

Wanna bet? People generally suck. Bring on the drones.

We have a major crap storm headed our way in less than 20 years IMO. We are going to have lots of people and not many jobs. Then what?

Then what? The guy currently ambling around a Lowes wearing an apron who isn't much help when you need it can be re-classified/re-trained to monitor and maintain Lowes' new service-robot army. Someone will need to change the batteries and upgrade the software.

Robots are already, and will certainly be in the future, pretty much self repair and service. If anything comes up a robot will service the robot. There will be a relative handful of jobs involved in making sure everything is running smoothly but they aren't going to the former lumber section guy.

Sarcasm meter down?

Yeah, I get it. My point was....I don't really care. If I need to find a freaking garden weasel and three Lowes employees can't help me, but the robot can, I will happily let R5-D4 show me where it is. The thought "FFS! That ain't a person! It'll be anarchy!! Think of the children of the lumber guy!!" will never cross my mind. Hell, I may hop on top of the thing and ride it to the garden section like I'm in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

It's not necessarily the lumber guys kids and grand kids you should be concerned about, but your own.

Childless, so I guess I'm in the clear. *whew!*

Maybe folks can just...I dunno...urge their kid to aim higher than "Lowes Lumber Guy?"

(So, where's my hardware store-robot-parade-float-thingie again? I could use some 10 penny nails. Or maybe some new Sunbrella shades.)

I love this conservative solution to things like the minimum wage. Just tell people to aspire to more and whammo! No more poor to worry about. No more minimum wage earners. We'll all be architects and lawyers.

 

[RUSF18]

I think you guys are missing my point a little bit. Why do people go to stores in the first place when they can buy just about anything they want on the internet these days and have it delivered to them, often for cheaper? Why do they go to the movies when they can simply watch television, and order whatever movie they want? Why do they go to public restaurants, when it is much cheaper to purchase the food you want at a market and prepare it yourself, or order it made and delivered?

The answer to all these questions, according to sociologists, is the same: because people enjoy human interaction. Most people like being in a crowd of other people (despite constant assertions that they don't.) So as I wrote, you can have a few robots at your store helping people out, for convenience and novelty, but if you're imagining a large department store filled with robots with almost no humans helping the public, forget it. That's never going to happen, no matter how much money it might eventually save.

I'll have to disagree with this answer and give you another answer that I feel better suits each of the three examples you gave - instant gratification.

I went to both a Lowes and a Home Depot this past weekend. Why - cause I needed what I was looking for now, not next week. Why do my wife and I go out to eat at restaurants? Cause we don't have anything to eat in the house and we don't want to go shopping and then come back and cook when we can just go out and eat. Why did I go to the theaters the maybe 3 times I have in the last 3 years? Cause I didn't want to wait the 6-9 months for that particular movie to come out on DVD, I wanted to see that Bond movie as soon as I could.

I'd also add that if I could go to a movie, pay my $13 and see it on an enormous screen with amazing sound, and be virtually alone in the place, I'd definitely go more than 2-3 times a year. I don't go more often than that because I don't want to pay $13 for a ticket, $6 for a drink, and $8 for popcorn all to deal with some schmuck behind me explaining the movie to his woman, a kid crying 10 feet away, and another guy looking at his cell phone with his fully bright screen.

People ####### suck. Shocking that he is so wrong here.

 

[shuke]

OSHbot also can help customers match a certain-size nail or hinge with a 3D-scanner and determine immediately if the part is in stock.

That's a cool feature.

Pretty excited about this whole thing.

 

[bostonfred]

OSHbot? Why wouldn't they call them Lowe bots?

 

[lumpy19]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

Who makes the robots you use? The ones I use need constant maintenance, constant programming changes and they definitely don't repair themselves.

 

[Brony]

Well, if Bath & Body Works had robots, then we might have been denied this fantastic rant. And that makes me sad.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I love this conservative solution to things like the minimum wage. Just tell people to aspire to more and whammo! No more poor to worry about. No more minimum wage earners. We'll all be architects and lawyers.

You can never have too many lawyers.

 

[timschochet]

I think you guys are missing my point a little bit. Why do people go to stores in the first place when they can buy just about anything they want on the internet these days and have it delivered to them, often for cheaper? Why do they go to the movies when they can simply watch television, and order whatever movie they want? Why do they go to public restaurants, when it is much cheaper to purchase the food you want at a market and prepare it yourself, or order it made and delivered?

The answer to all these questions, according to sociologists, is the same: because people enjoy human interaction. Most people like being in a crowd of other people (despite constant assertions that they don't.) So as I wrote, you can have a few robots at your store helping people out, for convenience and novelty, but if you're imagining a large department store filled with robots with almost no humans helping the public, forget it. That's never going to happen, no matter how much money it might eventually save.

I'll have to disagree with this answer and give you another answer that I feel better suits each of the three examples you gave - instant gratification.

I went to both a Lowes and a Home Depot this past weekend. Why - cause I needed what I was looking for now, not next week. Why do my wife and I go out to eat at restaurants? Cause we don't have anything to eat in the house and we don't want to go shopping and then come back and cook when we can just go out and eat. Why did I go to the theaters the maybe 3 times I have in the last 3 years? Cause I didn't want to wait the 6-9 months for that particular movie to come out on DVD, I wanted to see that Bond movie as soon as I could.

I'd also add that if I could go to a movie, pay my $13 and see it on an enormous screen with amazing sound, and be virtually alone in the place, I'd definitely go more than 2-3 times a year. I don't go more often than that because I don't want to pay $13 for a ticket, $6 for a drink, and $8 for popcorn all to deal with some schmuck behind me explaining the movie to his woman, a kid crying 10 feet away, and another guy looking at his cell phone with his fully bright screen.

People ####### suck. Shocking that he is so wrong here.

I hear this all the time. But the numbers don't bear that out. Every sociologist will tell you that your viewpoint (I'd prefer to be alone in an empty theater, etc.) is simply not representative of the public. The public likes crowds. The more crowded the better. Crowds generate interest and excitement. People tend to want to do whatever "everybody is doing."

 

[dickey moe]

I also want to add that the fears that NC Commish is expressing here have been expressed consistently from the beginning of the industrial revolution with every new form of technology or automation. The tractor would destroy the jobs of farmers. The canals would destroy horse delivery men. The railroads would destroy the canals. And so forth. Every new technology that has been developed has been attacked, not as a job creator, but as a job destroyer, and the prediction that NC made in the OP, that we would end up with many more people than jobs, has been made on each occasion, and even when its been correct at times, that has always been transitory.

You do realize that all those things did exactly what they said they would. Let's take the legal industry. When I started in computers it took 2.5 workers to support an Attorney. Now it takes one worker per 2.5 attorneys. Have you looked at the drop in farm payrolls and the declining employment there of? Takes far fewer people to produce what you eat than it did. And those displaced people moved to manufacturing. Where they got displaced again by robots and moved to the service industry. This isn't the printing press. This is a fundamental societal change that is coming screaming down the tracks at us. And we are ignoring it.

So what's the solution? Stopping technology just so Jimbo doesn't have to learn an actual skill and can instead just flip burgers or scan an item and ask if the customer wants an extended warranty isn't realistic.

The average IQ in this country is 98. That means an awful lot of people aren't that smart. They aren't going to become engineers or even high tech workers. We will always have a lot of Jimbos. I have suggested that we will need to tax corporations pretty heavily as they will have all the money anyway and institute a Basic Income Guarantee for people like Jimbo and really all of us. It doesn't matter what you do there is already a robot that can do it better or there is one being built that will.

So we tax MegaCorp so that Jimbo can sit on his ### and have enough money? That's your solution?

Or I guess they can starve to death in the street. And since so many will be unemployed with no money there won't be any Megacorp either. No demand, no reason for supply. Oh and at some point it may well be that nearly all of us are Jimbo before all is said and done.

What an utterly depressing philosophy of humanity.

 

[NCCommish]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

Who makes the robots you use? The ones I use need constant maintenance, constant programming changes and they definitely don't repair themselves.

There are self healing machines right now. The distance between where we are and self manufacturing self healing robots is not all that far historically. Advances in AI, advances in fine motor control, advances in self healing are all going to come together over the next couple of decades.

 

[Insein]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

Who makes the robots you use? The ones I use need constant maintenance, constant programming changes and they definitely don't repair themselves.

There are self healing machines right now. The distance between where we are and self manufacturing self healing robots is not all that far historically. Advances in AI, advances in fine motor control, advances in self healing are all going to come together over the next couple of decades.

So Skynet is the bigger fear then. So Jimbo won't have to worry about his minimum wage job. He'll either be dead or in the army.

 

[NCCommish]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

Who makes the robots you use? The ones I use need constant maintenance, constant programming changes and they definitely don't repair themselves.

There are self healing machines right now. The distance between where we are and self manufacturing self healing robots is not all that far historically. Advances in AI, advances in fine motor control, advances in self healing are all going to come together over the next couple of decades.

So Skynet is the bigger fear then. So Jimbo won't have to worry about his minimum wage job. He'll either be dead or in the army.

Yeah maybe I should allow for robot apocalypse. War is always good for the economy after all.

 

[Insein]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

Who makes the robots you use? The ones I use need constant maintenance, constant programming changes and they definitely don't repair themselves.

There are self healing machines right now. The distance between where we are and self manufacturing self healing robots is not all that far historically. Advances in AI, advances in fine motor control, advances in self healing are all going to come together over the next couple of decades.

So Skynet is the bigger fear then. So Jimbo won't have to worry about his minimum wage job. He'll either be dead or in the army.

Yeah maybe I should allow for robot apocalypse. War is always good for the economy after all.

As long as there's someone to hate as a group, we can build stuff towards that goal. That's the problem with terrorism. It's just a fear without the goal.

 

[NCCommish]

I also support a Basic Income Guarantee, but think that ZOMG r0b0ts isn't the best way to push the agenda.

It's not really ZOMG robots. There is a serious national discussion to be had here. You can't stop tech from going forward. But you have to put some forethought into how to adapt to coming seismic changes in how we as a society view work and how we make money.

What are your thoughts on people in buggy whip production?

Same as my thoughts on TV repairmen. This sin't really the same case though. People who made buggy whips were presented with other manufacturing opportunities because cars couldn't build themselves. Robots can. And they can repair themselves as well. This is the part people seem to miss in this conversation. It isn't like the advent of motor culture in America. Because robots simply don't need us very much.

Who makes the robots you use? The ones I use need constant maintenance, constant programming changes and they definitely don't repair themselves.

There are self healing machines right now. The distance between where we are and self manufacturing self healing robots is not all that far historically. Advances in AI, advances in fine motor control, advances in self healing are all going to come together over the next couple of decades.

So Skynet is the bigger fear then. So Jimbo won't have to worry about his minimum wage job. He'll either be dead or in the army.

Yeah maybe I should allow for robot apocalypse. War is always good for the economy after all.

As long as there's someone to hate as a group, we can build stuff towards that goal. That's the problem with terrorism. It's just a fear without the goal.

Well said.

 

[parasaurolophus]

Sounds like a great time to support minimum wage hikes!