Debbie says: Past and present computerization & robotics have already decimated

[rcjordan]

Company is also rapidly deploying its 'FAST Unloader' machine

Walmart Cuts Some Overnight Shifts in Latest Streamlining Move - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-01/walmart-cuts-some-overnight-shifts-in-latest-streamlining-move

[rcjordan]

Cause, meet effect.

Walmart is doubling down on robot janitors. Here's why - CNN
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/business/walmart-robots-retail-jobs/index.html

[nffc]

Just back from Korea, saw a few of these robots on the roads.

[rcjordan]

2 robot flagmen would cut some buck$ from a contractor's payroll.  Seem pretty simple, by modern-day sensor standards.  I expect we'll see some here soon.

Amazon acquires autonomous warehouse robotics startup Canvas Technology | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/10/amazon-acquires-autonomous-warehouse-robotics-startup-canvas-technology/

[rcjordan]

>Past and present computerization

^{Check this out:}

The massive FBI's fingerprint files, 1944
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/fbi-fingerprint-files-facility-1944/

[ergophobe]

Whoa!

My first instinct was "That's fake." But no, it's a real photo. So I see how they had prints filed by name... but clearly they could not match a print without a name to start with.

Also... I look at the sheer number of people involved in that effort. All wearing nice, professional clothes. Damn computers!

[rcjordan]

Creeping in.  You'll hardly notice the job decimation.

Robots are working retail jobs at Walmart now
https://bgr.com/2019/08/29/walmart-robots-in-stores-growing-presence/

[Drastic]

"The overall trend we're seeing is that automating certain tasks gives associates more time to do work they find fulfilling and to interact with our customers," CEO Doug McMillon said last year.

hahahahahah

[ergophobe]

More time with their families too.

[rcjordan]

>automating certain tasks gives associates more time to do work they find fulfilling

^Study:
"Automation increases the likelihood that workers will be driven away from their previous jobs at the companies—whether they're fired, or moved to less rewarding tasks, or quit—and causes a long-term loss of wages for the employee.

The report finds that "firm-level automation increases the probability of workers separating from their employers and decreases days worked, leading to a 5-year cumulative wage income loss of 11 percent of one year's earnings." That's a pretty significant loss.

Worse still, the study found that even in the Netherlands, which has a comparatively generous social safety net to, say, the United States, workers were only able to offset a fraction of those losses with benefits provided by the state. Older workers, meanwhile, were more likely to retire early—deprived of years of income they may have been counting on."



Automation's Slow-Motion Impact on Modern Workers
https://gizmodo.com/the-trickle-down-disaster-of-automation-1838974516

[Brad]

This can lead to massive social instability and unrest in society.

[ergophobe]

This can lead to massive social instability and unrest in society.

I've been listening to some episodes of Nick Hanauer's Pitchfork Economics. Hanauer became a billionaire, which he thought was pretty great, but then started looking around and worry that if things continued the way they were going, people were going to start coming after the Nick Hanauers of the world with pitchforks, thus the name of the podcast.

He's no socialist - his vision of the world is one in which he would have three billion dollars instead of seven billion because, you know, if you tighten your belt, you can live pretty well on three billion dollars.

But he's quite worried about the instability and unrest problem. Some interesting stuff that has changed my mind on a number of issues.

And at the behest of a friend, listening in alteration to the Schiff Report, which basically believes government = oppression and taxes = theft.

Interesting combo for a weekly headspin.

[rcjordan]

>>automating certain tasks gives associates more time to do work they find fulfilling

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Study: Robots aren't taking warehouse employees' jobs, they're making their work harder
https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/10/22/20925894/robots-warehouse-jobs-automation-replace-workers-amazon-report-university-illinois

[ergophobe]

I am shocked! I worked for a year or so as a warehouse picker/packer and it was pretty monotonous, but when I read about the changes in warehouses with automation, it always strikes me that everything that made the job bearable is being stripped away a bit at a time.

[rcjordan]

I grew up on the loading docks at the wholesale company and worked there part-time into my college years.  The relentless pace robots are able to keep would be a killer. That, and they never forget. It'd be a PITA.