Tag: Technology

Trump’s actions “reflect the corruption of the US political system”

Trump’s actions “reflect the corruption of the US political system”

Donald Trump’s first official trip abroad to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Belgium and Italy left many politicians in Europe feeling helpless. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says the West has become smaller. Are we entering a new era of transatlantic relations?

We are definitely in a new era, although the US has been less of a reliable partner for years now. It invaded Iraq in 2003. It created, together with the UK and France, the war in Libya in 2011. Along with Saudi Arabia, it began contributing to the destabilisation of Syria in 2011. It’s the country that triggered the 2008 […]

Richard Kyte: Value of work is more than a paycheck

Richard Kyte: Value of work is more than a paycheck

One day I asked my dad why he never used rollers for painting houses. Whenever he painted large flat surfaces — interior walls, ceilings, exterior siding — he used heavy 6-inch brushes. His forearms were like Popeye the Sailor’s. Richard Kyte “I’m a professional,” he answered. “Rollers are for do-it-yourselfers.”

He took pride in his work, and he respected the work of other professionals.

If a tail light went out in the family car, he would have me take the car down to Riewer’s service station to have the bulb replaced. Once I offered to do it. “No,” he said, “take […]

A techno-optimist take on automation and jobs

Reason writer Ronald Bailey outlines a strong case that fears about technological unemployment are overblown. For instance: He adds needed context to the recent finding by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu and Boston University economist Pascual Restrepo that each additional industrial robot in the United States results in 5.6 American workers losing their jobs.

But even taking the high-end estimate, job loss due to robots was has been just 670,000 since 1990 while “last year some 62.5 million Americans were hired in new jobs, while 60.1 million either quit or were laid off from old ones, according the Bureau of Labor […]

A techno-optimist take on automation and jobs

Reason writer Ronald Bailey outlines a strong case that fears about technological unemployment are overblown. For instance: He adds needed context to the recent finding by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu and Boston University economist Pascual Restrepo that each additional industrial robot in the United States results in 5.6 American workers losing their jobs.

But even taking the high-end estimate, job loss due to robots was has been just 670,000 since 1990 while “last year some 62.5 million Americans were hired in new jobs, while 60.1 million either quit or were laid off from old ones, according the Bureau of Labor […]

Canadian Cities And Industries Most At Risk From Automation

Canadian Cities And Industries Most At Risk From Automation

About 46 per cent of the work done in Canada is at risk of being taken by machines, according to a report that seeks to identify the industries and places across the country that are most vulnerable to automation.

The report from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship doesn’t argue that automation is a bad thing.

“In the long run, technology has often helped to produce more jobs than it destroyed,” researchers Creig Lamb and Matthew Lo wrote. Jobs in food services and accommodation are at greatest risk of automation in Canada, with 69 per cent of the work done […]

Consumer expectations drive Nike, Adidas’ automation in fashion

Dive Brief:

Roughly 20% of production for Nike and Adidas AG shoes will happen within automated factories by 2023 according to Morgan Stanley forecasts, driven in part by the "wear it now" mentality of modern e-commerce shoppers, Market Watch reported .

Lead times in future supply chains will drop by 66% or more, making products available faster and reducing Amazon’s e-commerce footprint. The athletic wear industry is forecast to expand to $355 billion from $290 billion, stealing market share from more traditional areas of apparel. Dive Insight: The overseas jobs that most welcome future automation currently are rote, menial […]

Mindless mining

Mindless mining

Rio Tinto has a special relationship with the University of Sydney. The multinational mining corporation is one of the world’s largest, generating US $34 billion of revenue in 2016. In 2007, Rio Tinto partnered with the University to undertake a joint research project, the Rio Tinto Centre for Mine Automation (RTCMA), which sits under the University’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics. RTCMA was charged with creating Rio Tinto’s ‘Mine of the Future’, which involves automating all aspects of a mine’s operation.

The project was established as a 12 year partnership, which means it’s nearing the end of its tenure. Over […]

In the age of disruption, what are the new rules of negotiating salary?

In the age of disruption, what are the new rules of negotiating salary?

If Robotic Process Automation is truly reducing the number of jobs, is salary negotiation a risk that a jobseeker should take? In a recent Harvard commencement speech, Mark Zuckerberg addressed his alma mater’s fresh graduates for “establishing a ‘social infrastructure’ for the world” as “generation-defining public works projects” that involve people towards a socially beneficial cause. Much like the recent technologies being developed at Facebook, his belief in a future with no job shortages despite automation was built not only “to create progress, but to create purpose”.

However, at a time when the World Bank data suggests that 69% of […]

Why Lifelong Learning is Our Competitive Advantage in the Automation Age

New technologies are transforming our profession, and they’re also transforming the skills we’ll need to stave off extinction.

In a paper titled “ The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerisation? ” University of Oxford researchers Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne tried to gauge the odds that certain occupations will be completely automated within the next 20 years. Among their predictions: Tax preparation: 98.7 percent

Bookkeepers: 97.6 percent Accounting and auditing: 93.5 percent In fact, only seven occupations – cargo and freight agents, watch repairers, insurance underwriters, mathematical technicians, hand sewers, title examiners, and telemarketers […]

RISE of the ROBOT

RISE of the ROBOT

A four-part look at how robots are changing the way we work. First up, robots aren’t killing jobs, they’re creating new ones and more of them
— at least at a GE Aviation plant in Quebec

By Drew Hasselback in Bromont, Que.
About 180 robots here are doing work that humans used to do at a GE Aviation plant that makes parts for jet engines. But they haven’t replaced the humans. Indeed, the opposite is true. Since a new, automated section of the plant ramped up at the start of the decade, the number of people working here […]