Many fear automation. Here is the truth, automation is the result of a knowledge base created and paid for by us all. As such we should not fear it but benefit from it.
Automation is a good thing we should all benefit from
Automation is a good thing. But we need to ensure that our government passes the appropriate laws to ensure that it does not become the next competitor to labor.
The subject of the last Politics Done Right show of 2016 was supposed to be about why Republicans had to kill Obamacare quickly. It evolved into the discussion of both socialism and automation. The included clip discusses why I believe automation is not only good.
The premise is that with automation comes fewer jobs. The premise is correct. The fallacy is that there would be enough 40 hr/week jobs to continue to have people still gainfully employed. That is mathematically false unless one directly created employment for the sake of job creation. But that is unnecessary.
The solution is rather simple. We must reduce the hours per week worked and we must increase pay. Otherwise, the efficiency generated from automation will end up the hands of an undeserving few. Those who love unregulated, unfettered capitalism will hate this. They believe the spoils always go to the investor. And if you increase efficiencies, then those excess profits belong with them.
That is hogwash. Americans pay taxes that funded schools, hospitals, roads, and everything else that created the infrastructure necessary for automation to become a reality. An investor did not pay their fair share, and yet they want to reap the rewards at the expense of a working and functioning society? Hell no.
Americans must assert their worth. They must force the government to lay down an even playing field. They must ensure that capital is never greater than humans or society. It is only the tool used to help move society along in an orderly fashion and we must regulate it.
