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Are robots hurting job growth?

January 13, 2013 5:00 PM

Technological advances, especially robotics, are revolutionizing the workplace, but not necessarily creating jobs. Steve Kroft reports.

Are robots hurting job growth?

60 Minutes OverTimeThe robot waltz: An appreciation

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by kisswitu4life March 28, 2013 6:55 AM EDT
In anticipation for the future technology exploration, the present world is like just a dream. Robotic activities eventually, in industries paralyzed the involvement of human effort and man-power. The future will be hell of a boring and at the same time, an interesting place to be.
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by sologash March 16, 2013 5:15 PM EDT
That is why The Venus Project (www.thevenusproject.com) proposes an entirely new civilization of Resource Based Economy (RBE) in which our technological capacity is optimally used to produce abundance in goods and services; and, hence, will have the complete freedom to pursue our individual interests and participate in any area of our competence with unrestrained access to all necessary information. But, the profit-incentive in the current monetary system establishment has restricted the advancement and application of this tech capacity for abundance - as it is only when resources are scarce (insufficiently available) that money can be used to control their distribution and, hence, make profit - simple example: corporations amass billions of dollars in profit globally by designing products with a very limited useful life so that they will become obsolete (i.e. Planned Obsolescence). So, the drive for profit will continue to lead companies or any employee to increasingly use artificial intelligence such as robots in stead of humans, who need much higher wages and other expenses than the cost of the robots and much less inefficient and ineffective than robots. So, before the crisis of the current profit-driven monetary system gets to a point of total destruction, let's support the realization of the new Resource Based Economy (RBE) civilization as wholly designed by 97 year-old Jacque Fresco, who is the founder and director of The Venus Project based in Venus, Florida. http://thevenusproject.com/downloads/brochures/Official%20TVP%20Brochure%20by%20Julita%20Wielgat.pdf.
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by hayzed123 February 22, 2013 10:03 AM EST
can someone tell me more about this please
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by Valhalla0907 February 10, 2013 8:57 PM EST
The robots are competent, but the people that maintain them aren't!
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by RoboticSurgeon February 9, 2013 10:28 PM EST
Just for the record, the DaVinci, or any other surgical "Robot" is technically an automaton. It does not do the job of a human, it only mimics the movements of the surgeon at the console. It is an amazing machine that allows a surgeon to perform more complex surgery laparoscopically, but this machine does not do any of the work for me and does not fit the definition of a robot.
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by robert196748 January 29, 2013 10:04 AM EST
FROM MAIN STREET,I HAVE WORKED FOR A MANUFACTURING FIRM FOR 40+ YEARS AS A MAINTENANCE WORKER ROBOT CELLS AND ALL MECHANICAL DEVICES IN PLANT. YOU ARE 25 YEARS LATE FOR YOUR CONCERN. WE HAVE LOST 5000+ JOBS TO ROBOTS AT 1PLANT! YOU,BOYS, ARE TRYING TO PROTECT YOUR JOBS AND I UNDERSTAND.WITH ENOUGH ROBOTS,THEY DON'T NEED US?
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by JaceHudak January 27, 2013 8:34 PM EST
Zalatix- Please take the time to re read my previous comment. Also, please do some research into the definition of "Robot". The entire 60 Minutes segment should have been titled "Automation". For those who are too young or too misinformed, the term "Robot" should not be applied to everything that is Fixed or Flexible Automation. Your citation that the "World Bank" made some statement most likely includes software and terminals that "Automate" bank transactions. Also, please take the time to re-listen to the 60 Minutes segment. The term "Automation" is used more frequently than the term "Robot". Please refrain from using the term Robot to encompass any "automation". If you do, please consider that your use of your computer, ATM Card, Remote Control, Sewing Machine and even a typewriter is also the use of a "robot". Do you think that you could afford a house or automobile that was not built with the use of automation? This would include the use of "Nail Guns", Modern Wood Planers, Aluminum or Vinyl Siding Production equipment, Circular Saws, Carpet Manufacturing, Drywall... etc..etc.. "Fixed and Flexible Automation" goes all the way back to the "Printing Press" and can also be argued back to the Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon periods. Robots are "Machines" with "Artificial Intelligence". Unfortunately, "Artificial Intelligence" has permeated our society and media. As long as "Real Robotics" is being developed to allow paraplegic and amputees to live a more fuller life with hope, the term Robot should not be loosely confused with "Automation".
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by Zalatix January 26, 2013 10:17 PM EST
JaceHudak you are quite wrong. The data clearly says automation is replacing workers and is not creating enough new jobs. The World Bank acknowledges this as well. Technology is the primary driver for why global unemployment is now at 202 million, and will reach 600 million by 2022. 600 MILLION people without jobs.
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by Winoman January 26, 2013 9:58 PM EST
Technology is out salvation, I get it.

When I was young, the Atomic Energy Commission released comic books that had a character--Johnny Kilowatt. Johnny had a Flash Gordan helmet and arms and legs that were bolts of lightening. The promise of atomic energy, Johnny told me, was that it would make electricity so abundant and thus cheap that there would be no need to put meters on houses.

The unthinking responses have probably not read the two MIT "geeks" book--they are actually optimistic in the end, but that is a little factoid that they overlook.

No, they recite the Luddite Fallacy as proof that this time we don't need to worry. But the fact is, we might--and that is all that is all that Brynjolfsson and McAfee are saying (though I think they are probably too optimistic).

One thing is different this time they (and many others also observe). Moore's Law is here. The pace of invention in the past was slow enough so that we frail humans could adapt and keep pace. In the near past, it has become a bit harder--attractive professions like law (legal research) are now being taken over by algorithms. Even radiologists (as Murray observes in The Lights in the Tunnel) can be automated since all they do is read images and robots are pretty good at pattern recognition.

The lag is jobs may be made up--but by the time it is, the lag in newly lost jobs will be greater and that is the real argument being made--and by the time those new lost jobs are made up, even more newly newly lost jobs will be facing us.

We have some serious thinking to do. The comments are reassuring, but note they all are coming from those who have a dog in the fight for automation and robots. I don't--I am at the end of a rich and rewarding career and really do wish I could be a pollyanna and tell those younger than I that things will be hunky dory.

I truly think that would be instilling false optimism. I'd rather give them a dose of reality. It is not just a matter of education or training. Our worship of the technological sublime is probably looking at its grim, mechanical, reflection.
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by JaceHudak January 26, 2013 1:25 AM EST
I must apologize, but this is one of the worst 60 Minute segments that I have ever seen. Only two weeks ago, there was a fabulous segment that announced the use of robotics in prosthetics for amputees. I have had the good fortune of being asked to "Donate My Time" to help to develop sensors for prosthetic robotic hands so that amputees can "feel" with their robotic appendages. Disabled Veterans as well as many others will benefit from these developments. I have been involved with selecting and developing robotic applications for industry for more than 35 years. Implementations have never reduced work force. Targeted Projects are predominantly for "Safety" (Spray Painting and Hazardous Chemical Operations), Health (Carpal Tunnel and Lifting) and Productivity to Increase Sales, Operating Margins and Job Creation. I would love to be invited to present or debate the benefits of "Robotics", "Fixed Automation" or "Flexible Automation" on a 60 Minutes Segment. "Robots" are also being developed to defuse bombs and IED's. By the way, The word robota means literally "corvee", "serf labor", and figuratively "drudgery" or "hard work" in Czech and also (more general) "work", "labor" in many Slavic languages.
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