Blog Post 3: Automation and Poverty
I've been thinking about automation recently, and how it relates to the ideas we've discussed in this class. This blog post is the result of that reflection.
Some background: a couple months ago, I watched a series of videos on the effects of automation on our society (One of the videos is on the right). The general theory (which I subscribe to) is that automation is about to fundamentally change our society in a massive way. As an example reinforced by this video, take transportation. 3 days ago, Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, Space-X, and real-life Tony Stark) announced that Tesla would be releasing an electric semi-truck with full automatic driving capabilities. That means that the 3.5 million truckers currently living in the US are at serious risk of losing their jobs in the next 10 years.
Transportation isn't the only industry being overhauled. Virtually everything is getting automated - a deep-learning supercomputer named Watson at IBM, for instance, is now able to predict medical outcomes better than human doctors. Food-industry executives have been talking about automating fast food work. For more examples, see the video.
How will automation affect poverty?
From a removed perspective, automation can only be a good thing. If less manual labor is necessary to produce food and other goods and services, then there will be a greater supply of cheaper food, and poor people should have greater access to food.
But the structure of our society creates problems. Many of the jobs lost due to automation will be blue-collar work. We've already seen a huge political outcry by blue-collar workers in the rust belt; I'm worried that automation won't help. Basic income has been thrown out as a potential option, but there are plenty of problems with the concept.
I wonder whether the migrant workers we've been discussing in class will even be able to find work in a few years if all the low-level work is being completely automated. I'm of the opinion that after a rocky period things will begin to stabilize, but that rocky period seems ahead of us rather than behind us.
Some background: a couple months ago, I watched a series of videos on the effects of automation on our society (One of the videos is on the right). The general theory (which I subscribe to) is that automation is about to fundamentally change our society in a massive way. As an example reinforced by this video, take transportation. 3 days ago, Elon Musk (CEO of Tesla, Space-X, and real-life Tony Stark) announced that Tesla would be releasing an electric semi-truck with full automatic driving capabilities. That means that the 3.5 million truckers currently living in the US are at serious risk of losing their jobs in the next 10 years.
Transportation isn't the only industry being overhauled. Virtually everything is getting automated - a deep-learning supercomputer named Watson at IBM, for instance, is now able to predict medical outcomes better than human doctors. Food-industry executives have been talking about automating fast food work. For more examples, see the video.
How will automation affect poverty?
From a removed perspective, automation can only be a good thing. If less manual labor is necessary to produce food and other goods and services, then there will be a greater supply of cheaper food, and poor people should have greater access to food.
But the structure of our society creates problems. Many of the jobs lost due to automation will be blue-collar work. We've already seen a huge political outcry by blue-collar workers in the rust belt; I'm worried that automation won't help. Basic income has been thrown out as a potential option, but there are plenty of problems with the concept.
I wonder whether the migrant workers we've been discussing in class will even be able to find work in a few years if all the low-level work is being completely automated. I'm of the opinion that after a rocky period things will begin to stabilize, but that rocky period seems ahead of us rather than behind us.
I really enjoyed your take and perspective on this topic! It definitely brings into light how a near future does exist where automation will be taking over sectors of jobs completely. I wonder if these big companies that are expanding automation are thinking of where these displaced workers could be put to use thereafter...or if that aspect is just totally disregarded.
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog topic! I recently read statistics that by 2050, over 800 million people will be displaced by automation. This number seems extreme but with the rate of progression that has already occurred, it do not seem that far fetched. Automation will continue to make big companies more profitable, which will also continue to raise the wealth inequality in many developed countries. This trend really could be a negative for society in the coming years. Again, good blog post!
ReplyDelete