consumption Archives - Page 32 of 35

Some surprising (to me) facts about plastics employment

I have a finger on the pulse of the plastics industry. I visit companies, talk to executives on the phone, meet them at conferences and shows. I also read tons of stories about them, written by our staff and others.

But once in a while I see something surprising about plastics processing. That’s happened twice in the past month. Maybe these snippets will surprise you, too.

The first came in our January podcast, which we call Plastics News Radio. Steve Toloken, our news editor-international, interviewed Bill Carteaux, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association.Carteaux has been in the plastics industry […]

Full Post at www.plasticsnews.com

Tyler Cowen: History says automation won’t be painless

The Industrial Revolution initially cut wages by about 10%, according to estimates, and the transition lasted 60 to 70 years. The shift out of agricultural jobs aided humanity but it was bumpy, and increased automation probably will carry similar displacements.

"Why should it be different this time?" That’s the most common response when I raise concerns about automation and the future of jobs, and it’s a pretty simple rejoinder. The Western world managed the shift out of agricultural jobs into industry, and continued to see economic growth. So will not the jobs being displaced now by automation and artificial intelligence […]

Full Post at www.lenconnect.com

Industrial revolution’s record brings no comfort

NEW YORK – “Why should it be different this time?” That’s the most common response I hear when I raise concerns about automation and the future of jobs, and it’s a pretty simple rejoinder. The Western world managed the shift out of agricultural jobs into industry, and continued to see economic growth. So will not the jobs being displaced now by automation and artificial intelligence lead to new jobs elsewhere in a broadly similar and beneficial manner? Will not the former truck drivers, displaced by self-driving vehicles, find work caring for the elderly or maybe fixing or programming the […]

Full Post at www.japantimes.co.jp

The Error In Bill Gates’ Latest Odd Idea – Let’s Tax The Robots Stealing Our Jobs

Bill Gates has put forward an odd idea, that we should tax the production of those robots as they all come to steal our jobs. This is a bad idea, an error, we should do absolutely no thing. The error stemming from a misunderstanding of the production of value and what happens to it when produced.

It’s entirely true that Bill Gates is very much brighter than I am. That he is one of the world’s richest people and I an economic scribbler is not because my intellect outshines his. However, it is still true that we all have our […]

Full Post at www.forbes.com

Industrial Revolution comparisons aren’t comforting as job cuts loom large

People at work in a factory, making vices in 1771. Photo: Getty Images/Hulton Archive “Why should it be different this time?” That’s the most common response I hear when I raise concerns about automation and the future of jobs, and it’s a pretty simple rejoinder. The Western world managed the shift out of agricultural jobs into industry, and continued to see economic growth. So will not the jobs being displaced now by automation and artificial intelligence lead to new jobs elsewhere in a broadly similar and beneficial manner? Will not the former truck drivers, displaced by self-driving vehicles, find […]

Full Post at www.livemint.com

How The Coming Wave Of Job Automation Will Affect You

Submitted by David Galland via The Passing Parade

One of the more interesting mental exercises related to predicting the future involves trying to fathom the impact the rise of robots will have on humanity.

We can be quite sure that in the proverbial blink, robots will be doing all the war fighting . After that, what’s the point? But does that then lead to the sort of robotic apocalypse so well envisioned in Terminator ?I also suspect it’s only a matter of time before the idea of sex bots goes from being an “eew” sort of thing to a […]

Full Post at www.zerohedge.com

Will automation take away all our jobs? | David Autor

Here’s a paradox you don’t hear much about: despite a century of creating machines to do our work for us, the proportion of adults in the US with a job has consistently gone up for the past 125 years. Why hasn’t human labor become redundant and our skills obsolete? In this talk about the future of work, economist David Autor addresses the question of why there are still so many jobs and comes up with a surprising, hopeful answer.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers […]

Full Post at eventbeat.org

Will automation take away all our jobs? | David Autor [w/ subs]

00:00:13 – Here’s a startling fact:
00:00:15 – in the 45 years since the introduction of the automated teller machine,
00:00:18 – those vending machines that dispense cash,
00:00:21 – the number of human bank tellers employed in the United States
00:00:24 – has roughly doubled, 00:00:26 – from about a quarter of a million to a half a million. 00:00:29 – A quarter of a million in 1970 to about a half a million today, 00:00:32 – with 100,000 added since the year 2000. 00:00:36 – These facts, revealed in a recent book 00:00:39 – by Boston University […]

Full Post at www.youtuberocks.com

Futures Shaped by Automation and Catastrophe: Peter Frase on Capitalism’s Endgame

What will replace capitalism as we currently know it? (Photo: Wolf-Ulf Wulfrolf / Flickr) Is capitalism’s collapse inevitable? If so, what kind of post-capitalist society do we face? In Four Futures: Life After Capitalism , Peter Frase draws on social science, speculative fiction and social theory to create an engaging and thought-provoking portrait of four possible scenarios, some more dystopian than others. Order your copy of this book today from Truthout by clicking here!

As we automate more jobs and continue on a road to scarcity of resources, whither capitalism? The following is the Truthout interview with Peter Frase, […]

Full Post at www.truth-out.org

Many Fear Automation Will Wipe Out Jobs. But Automating Buildings Will Be a Jobs Creator

Amazon’s launch of its “Go” store — essentially a grocery with no cashiers — has fueled a debate about how automation will destroy jobs.

There are 3.4 million workers with some variant of the title “cashier” in America, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, making it one of the most common jobs in the country. But Amazon’s store eliminates this role. And soon, automated taxis, stores and restaurants could wipe out many millions of similar jobs across the service sector.

Experts are increasingly grappling with what technology, automation and artificial intelligence mean for the average worker. But it’s not […]

Full Post at www.greentechmedia.com