Re: Supermarket Robots
Originally Posted by
Rene61
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But...but...but...there are many people who have no ambition or desire to conquer the capitalist world. They are perfectly content to work menial jobs that require no particular skill or schooling. What is deplorable to one person may be heaven to another. These people are actually more vital to the scheme of things than rocket scientists too. I can see those robots taking over certain jobs at airports, and maybe some assembly line work (that's already a done deal), but putting shampoo on the shelf or scrubbing a toilet in a restaurant... my crystal ball is just not seeing it.
Fair enough but there are menial jobs and there are menial jobs. Jobs that inflict sheer tedium on a person should be ditched I think if a cheap robot can fit the bill; as you mentioned robots are already used in lots of line work. I just think that a human being shouldn't have to spend long hours in such work however brain dead or lacking in ambition they are
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Some people are desperate for whatever work they can get or are forced in to doing jobs for one reason on another but that doesn't mean they should do the work anyway if a robot can so easily do it instead. I think employers are actually doing the employees a favour by using robots for repetitive boring work as it will undoubtedly speed up the process of creating a working environment that is both stimulating and satisfying. It might ,or invariably, mean more people are out of work initially but should still cause other opportunities to arise at some point or other. A human being doesn't deserve, or belong, on some mindless production line these days unless they are getting quite a bit of satisfaction or reward from it.
You have the other side of the coin though in that robots have already caused massive job losses owing to their accuracy and untiring work practices. Huge factories where there are hardly any people at all. This really is the crux of the matter. Where factories are concerned maybe there will come a time when people will hardly feature in them be it for menial jobs or otherwise. What then will we all do for employment if employment is indeed the over-riding need of most people by then? Sounds to me that whatever the jobs are they might be an improvement with regard to job satisfaction - then again maybe not.
I equate boring, tedious jobs with exploitation so I'm pretty much dead against them.