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How big of a threat is automation?

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Zeze said:
Even back in 2006, my company's IT 'digitized' a paper application filing/processing into a simple sharepoint site and eliminated an entire role comprised of 30 people @ $45k/yr + full benefits.

But it's not about pockets of operational efficiency. When self-driving comes, it'll hit truckers HARD.
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Truckers - yes, but also along the way are plenty of others.

You see it already with self-checkouts, but retail and restaurant serving is (i believe) still the #1 most employed position in the Us.

So when we can input our own orders, grab our own meals, etc... that will really take a ton away as well.

Everyone here can remember plenty of stories of ordering food to morons at fast food restaurants and they can't get a simple request correct such as "No pickles" or similar. Hell, there is already a burger flipper automation robot: https://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/03/06/flippy-burger-grilling-robot-fast-food-orig.cnn
 
Outsourcing is a big threat as well and has been happening for years. Just look at all the companies that shut down their plants and move all their operations overseas or to Mexico. Thousands of jobs are lost every day to it.

Office jobs are constantly threatened by it too, especially tech. It's much cheaper to hire some unskilled tech people in India than local skilled tech people. Companies don't care about quality they just care about the share holders.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Outsourcing is a big threat as well and has been happening for years. Just look at all the companies that shut down their plants and move all their operations overseas or to Mexico. Thousands of jobs are lost every day to it.

Office jobs are constantly threatened by it too, especially tech. It's much cheaper to hire some unskilled tech people in India than local skilled tech people. Companies don't care about quality they just care about the share holders.
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No question about it .... I can recall pages and pages of technical support jobs showing on Craigslist .... now on the other hand? Exactly one and it pays like $12 an hour lol.
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
Truckers - yes, but also along the way are plenty of others.

You see it already with self-checkouts, but retail and restaurant serving is (i believe) still the #1 most employed position in the Us.

So when we can input our own orders, grab our own meals, etc... that will really take a ton away as well.

Everyone here can remember plenty of stories of ordering food to morons at fast food restaurants and they can't get a simple request correct such as "No pickles" or similar. Hell, there is already a burger flipper automation robot: https://www.cnn.com/videos/cnnmoney/2018/03/06/flippy-burger-grilling-robot-fast-food-orig.cnn
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Well, I think being a server will last for a long time because dining out and being served by a caring restaurant 'representative' is an experience no automation can match. Automation WILL hit casual food industry which is fast food.
 
Captante said:
No question about it .... I can recall pages and pages of technical support jobs showing on Craigslist .... now on the other hand? Exactly one and it pays like $12 an hour lol.
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Yep even server tech jobs. All that stuff is going to cloud now. It seems it was not that long ago that SANs, and virtualization was a big deal, now companies can't be bothered with that, they just send it all to the cloud. Not all of them do it, but lot of them do, and the ones that don't consider it all the time, so even if you have a job there you are kind under threat all the time.

Even where I work now, lot of the equipment we monitor is legacy stuff and any time they install new stuff it gets monitored by another NOC. There's just no job security anymore.
 
s0me0nesmind1 said:
That - and I think the biggest problem will be what will people do with their lives? It's been shown - especially with men - that one big factor in regards to drug use is just feeling needed in life.

If you don't have anything useful as far as skills - something tells me it will result in a lot of depressed people that turn to drug use.

Either way, I'm in consulting and previously did implementations of an automation software of sorts... Now I actually sell/demo one of those softwares... So... Yeaaaah, good position to be in overall 😛
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Yang talks about this with Joe Rogan. He talks about how depression, anxiety, auicide, helplessness, etc are on the rise and will only get worse when automation starts to take jobs away.

 
Mai72 said:
Yang talks about this with Joe Rogan. He talks about how depression, anxiety, suicide, helplessness, etc are on the rise and will only get worse when automation starts to take jobs away
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I blame that on the pusssification of America. "Everyone's a special snowflake"...until they enter the real world. They don't have the skills to cope.

My son's life has been pretty easy/low stress. When he started his senior year, he had 4 classes in hs, 2 classes at tech, basketball practice, job and a girlfriend. He actually had to study/prioritize/organize his life and he struggled. Thankfully his gf alerted us and we saw about it. How many out there never get a little help...
 
Mai72 said:
Yang talks about this with Joe Rogan. He talks about how depression, anxiety, auicide, helplessness, etc are on the rise and will only get worse when automation starts to take jobs away.

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And no hard-on for $1000/month UBI is going to fix that is what I have issue with.

That, and with our current system plenty of people that are on government benefits already receive more than $1000/month - and he mentions UBI is a means to consolidate all of the other programs.
 
highland145 said:
I blame that on the pusssification of America. "Everyone's a special snowflake"...until they enter the real world. They don't have the skills to cope.

My son's life has been pretty easy/low stress. When he started his senior year, he had 4 classes in hs, 2 classes at tech, basketball practice, job and a girlfriend. He actually had to study/prioritize/organize his life and he struggled. Thankfully his gf alerted us and we saw about it. How many out there never get a little help...
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While I think the special snowflake is a problem in and of itself, I think this is a different problem in that men REALLY DO need to feel a purpose.

I remember when I got done with college 9 or so years ago. I practically went a little nuts - Going back to live with my parents while trying to look for a job for a couple months. Thankfully I found one shortly after, but still..... We (as men at least) have a naturally feeling to be...needed... And if you can't fulfill that (with work, fatherhood or whatever...) then it really messes with your psyche.
 
I'm hoping the folks who won't be working will be incentivize to spend time growing their own food. Some would even have leftovers to trade or sell to others. This would help reduce climate change and the environmental impact of our current system. I would also like to see people use their free time to contribute to their communities and/or society as a whole. Both ideas would give people a purpose and make the world a better place.
 
If your job duties are repetitive/standardized and could be trained in a day, fit in a Job Manual, and 100% covered by a policies and procedures guide, your job can basically be automated. All of the cognitive jobs that are not going away like developer, or analyst, or creative couldn’t be put in a book if you tried and will never be automated.
 
glenn1 said:
If your job duties are repetitive/standardized and could be trained in a day, fit in a Job Manual, and 100% covered by a policies and procedures guide, your job can basically be automated. All of the cognitive jobs that are not going away like developer, or analyst, or creative couldn’t be put in a book if you tried and will never be automated.
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Friend is the CAO of a large company and his advice to his kids was to not peruse a career in a field that can be outsourced in the next 10 years.
 
highland145 said:
Friend is the CAO of a large company and his advice to his kids was to not peruse a career in a field that can be outsourced in the next 10 years.
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A broader form of outsourcing can include entities operating within the country but at a much lower pay grade, potentially with little to no benefits, etc. So, I wonder what areas ones' kids can peruse and be safe. YMMV but I find none.
 
BarkingGhostar said:
A broader form of outsourcing can include entities operating within the country but at a much lower pay grade, potentially with little to no benefits, etc. So, I wonder what areas ones' kids can peruse and be safe. YMMV but I find none.
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Loan sharking, maybe? 😛

My kid, ATM, wants to be a nurse anesthetist.

Any trades, I think. My bro dropped out in the 10th grade. He's charging $140/hr now. Granted, he's the exception because of his skills/determination/abilities. Welders at Plant Vogtle are $42/hr. Mr Softie Xbox player, not so desirable.
 
highland145 said:
Loan sharking, maybe? 😛

My kid, ATM, wants to be a nurse anesthetist.

Any trades, I think. My bro dropped out in the 10th grade. He's charging $140/hr now. Granted, he's the exception because of his skills/determination/abilities. Welders at Plant Vogtle are $42/hr. Mr Softie Xbox player, not so desirable.
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Honestly, I'm not sure why any banking is still done by actual people. I guess people need a way to borrow money to buy internet access.
 
glenn1 said:
If your job duties are repetitive/standardized and could be trained in a day, fit in a Job Manual, and 100% covered by a policies and procedures guide, your job can basically be automated. All of the cognitive jobs that are not going away like developer, or analyst, or creative couldn’t be put in a book if you tried and will never be automated.
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That describes most jobs tbh. Anything that is too awkward to automate can simply be outsourced as well.
 
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