Tag: consumer

Simplicity is attractive, but not always realistic

Simplicity is attractive, but not always realistic

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I enjoy reader responses. Praise is gratifying, but criticism is often more valuable, as a doorway to discussion and insight. Case in point, David R. Lecklider’s Dec. 10 letter: “There are ultimately two ways to value goods and services, either the price system or the dictates of a central authority.” Plain and simple.

But reality seldom conforms to simple ideologies. Einstein advised that ideas be expressed in the simplest possible terms — “but no simpler!” Simplifying complex ideas helps us understand them; but oversimplifying leads to error, by ignoring essential information. The notion that matters must distill to either […]

Robot arms replace factory hands

Robot arms replace factory hands

Donald Trump has been crowing as companies including Ford renounce plans to move factories to Mexico. But the main beneficiaries of this shift back to the US aren’t saying much by way of celebration — industrial robots don’t tend to speak.

While globalisation’s detractors blame countries such as China and Mexico for stealing the factory jobs of the West, experts point to less obvious culprits which are harder to scapegoat and to overcome in an interconnected economy with complex supply chains.

Since US manufacturing employment peaked in the late 1970s, according to Michael Hicks of the Center for Business and Economic […]

Robot arms replace factory hands

Robot arms replace factory hands

95 per cent of job losses are due to automation and computer technology. PHOTO: AFP PARIS: Donald Trump has been crowing as companies including Ford renounce plans to move factories to Mexico. But the main beneficiaries of this shift back to the US aren’t saying much by way of celebration — industrial robots don’t tend to speak.

While globalisation’s detractors blame countries such as China and Mexico for stealing the factory jobs of the West, experts point to less obvious culprits which are harder to scapegoat and to overcome in an interconnected economy with complex supply chains.

Since US manufacturing employment […]

Workplace of the future may require new safety net

Workplace of the future may require new safety net

Buy Photo This past election we heard much about the loss of manufacturing jobs. Columnist George Will puts these job losses in perspective in a recent article . Will cites a Ball State University study. From 2000 to 2010, only 13 percent of manufacturing job losses were due to trade. Productivity improvements accounted for over 85 percent of the losses.

Many fear that automation and robotics will cause economic dislocation for working people. Andy Stern addresses this topic in his book “ Raising the Floor : How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream.” […]

Workplace of the future may require new safety net

Workplace of the future may require new safety net

Buy Photo This past election we heard much about the loss of manufacturing jobs. Columnist George Will puts these job losses in perspective in a recent article . Will cites a Ball State University study. From 2000 to 2010, only 13 percent of manufacturing job losses were due to trade. Productivity improvements accounted for over 85 percent of the losses.

Many fear that automation and robotics will cause economic dislocation for working people. Andy Stern addresses this topic in his book “ Raising the Floor : How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream.” […]

Robots will destroy our jobs – and we’re not ready for it

The McDonald’s on the corner of Third Avenue and 58th Street in New York City doesn’t look all that different from any of the fast-food chain’s other locations across the country. Inside, however, hungry patrons are welcomed not by a cashier waiting to take their order, but by a “Create Your Taste” kiosk – an automated touch-screen system that allows customers to create their own burgers without interacting with another human being.

It’s impossible to say exactly how many jobs have been lost by the deployment of the automated kiosks – McDonald’s has been predictably reluctant to release numbers – […]

Trump’s push for jobs should not be at the cost of killing jobs in developing countries

The US’ effort to create more jobs at home should not be done at the cost of killing jobs in developing countries such as China and Mexico. Taking back manufacturing jobs from developing countries will not improve US employment but instead will harm the growth of developing nations and backfire on its own economy. The US should work with China and Mexico to create opportunities that are reciprocal, otherwise the US’ global leadership will wobble.

On Monday, Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma Yun met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss a plan to attract 1 million small US businesses to […]

A CES Takeaway: Don’t Fear Robots And Artificial Intelligence–Fear Politicians

A CES Takeaway: Don't Fear Robots And Artificial Intelligence--Fear Politicians

Maroon 5 keeps popping up on my Pandora stations, so artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning still have a ways to go. Even if AI can beat us at Go .

But, wow, that aside, the technologies showcased at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (#CES2017, actually the 50th annual, sponsored by the Consumer Technology Association [CTA]), from countless robots to Hyundai exoskeletons, are incredible.

Voice recognition, virtual and augmented reality, smart home technologies and drones are everywhere. AI and machine learning comprise major threads.Which raises the question; will all that AI be Democrat or Republican?Just kidding. But a new concern has […]

Automation: Almost 50% of American jobs to dissappear

Automation: Almost 50% of American jobs to dissappear

Big Think | Aidan Quinn, Editor in Chief

A key platform for President Elect Donald Trump is to “bring the jobs back from China”. But what happens when the Chinese are already giving those jobs to machines? The jobs aren’t coming back:

One of the key drivers for Donald Trump’s shock victory during the U.S. election has been an anxiety about job security and the changes that the globalized economy has made across the globe. President Elect Trump capitalized on a ground-swell of dissatisfaction that middle-class Americans felt about stagnating wages and rapidly shrinking job opportunities, stoking anger […]

Ford CEO downplays Trump’s role in nixing Mexican plant, weighs in on tech, globalization and jobs

Ford CEO downplays Trump’s role in nixing Mexican plant, weighs in on tech, globalization and jobs

Alan Murray of Time Inc. interviews Ford CEO Mark Fields, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Flex CEO Mike McNamara at CES today. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop) LAS VEGAS — Ford was the latest company to find itself in the spotlight over issues of jobs and globalization this week, as the automaker canceled plans for a Mexican factory that would have employed nearly 3,000 people.

President-elect Donald Trump is getting the blame, but Ford CEO Mark Fields, speaking today the Consumer Electronics Show, insisted that the company made the decision for its own r Ford CEO Mark Fields at CES […]