I believe Automation is incoming but it's not going to wipe out as many jobs as we think. A focus on social/community workers will still be needed to keep structures intact and ethical. What do you think?

  • glimmer_twin [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I feel like “automation” is just another step in efficiency of production - what 10 robots (presumably still being overseen by SOME amount of human labour) can do, 1,000 humans with 20th century tech could do, 10,000 humans with 19th century tech could do, etc. Just because one human engineer can produce 10,000... I dunno, hubcaps - in an hour overseeing those 10 robots, the labour theory of value still holds.

    Where I think automation really provides an interesting new potential change to current relations of production is: will we end up with a huuuuuge “army of surplus labour” - traditionally 10% unemployment is considered alarming, what if production (and even the service sector) become so automated we’re looking at 30, 40, 50%? Does that provide a revolutionary contradiction, or do we all become docile, being fed and clothed by unthinking machines just enough to nullify any desire to overthrow the current system?