Technological advances, especially robotics, are revolutionizing the workplace, but not necessarily creating jobs. It is certainly leading to lay offs on Wall Street as the HFT machines continue to trade public markets in micro-seconds with little human involvement. Here is a direct link.
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Speaking of robots…..what madness has been created? Is this the next trigger?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-14/it-took-algos-4-seconds-fully-process-flashing-red-dell-headline
The next/current phase of planned obsolescence is the obsolescence of human beings.
Futurists of the past envisioned a utopia where robots relieved human beings of the drudgery of work. What they forgot to include in their scenarios is how you distribute wealth in a society that does not need human labour.
Oh, wait, THAT’s why government is becoming a larger rand larger percentage of the economy. Eventually, we will all ‘work’ for Big Brother and He will graciously provide for all according to our needs. Swell.
So in terms of future visions, we’ve gone from Star Trek to a conflated vision of Wall-E and 1984?
Here’s one for Cory….. and it’s not even electric…..I’m in.
http://www.examiner.com/article/volkswagen-s-600-car-gets-258-mpg
Yes, robots can assemble e.g. electric cars, electric shavers. But in order to be profitable that production needs a minimum demand for shavers, cars etc.. And where’s that demand going to come from when people can’t afford to buy those things anymore ?