Monday, February 13, 2017

AUTOMATION ?

   The other day Connie from Far Side of Fifty was talking about buying a new car. She had a few "needs". She wants a car that drives itself, avoids accidents, stops at garage sales and antique shops and lets you read and maybe have a snooze. Well, such a car is almost here. It still costs a lot of money.

    Shortly after reading her post I heard an interview on automation and what it may or not do to our economy and society. The possibilities for automation are endless and the technology is here. Money is the main issue for not going automation all the way. It's not just the equipment that costs but changing the whole system of transportation and assembly.

    I like to watch videos of auto assembly plants. The worker controls a device that  grabs a part , lifts it in place so that the worker can use his high speed screwdriver and attach the part. Automation is one of the reasons that made the  rust belt in the U.S. Automation has taken away millions of jobs.

     Writers are not going to be spared the job loss. Today the beginning of a sports story is generated by a computer. The writer fills in the details like the score. Hey, I wonder if this works for college assays?  Just think it would put cheating out of business.  I wonder if this works for blog posts? Blogging would really become easy!

     Several years ago I posted on the same topic. I found machines that would pick oranges. How many pickers would lose their employment?

     What is going to be done with the millions of people who are replaced by automatons? The interviewer didn't have an answer.

     Most of my life I have heard about shorter working hours and more leisure time. It hasn't really happened.  The sad part is that there are many very low end part time jobs with low pay.

     Science may have the automation but does society have a way to live with automation?

     Hard work by my neighbor , Barb , to take down my birch tree. In the forest most work is done by machine and very little is touched by hand except for machine controls.