The latest word to become racist and prejudiced is: "The". Really.

It's a future of substandard communication put in place by "the"clueless. "The" demented...that think "the french" is nonacceptable but I'm sure will say "the extreme right wing" is. The press misaligns labels constantly. How about "white cop shoots black man" . Labeling by race in an effort to race bait and demonize a certain race. How about "White store owner calls police on black shopper". I've seen those types of headlines.....attached to stories that had nothing to do with race but with specific non racial incidents. The powers that be in AP standard needs to fix real issues that hurt people and their own credibility.

 

What we have is a lot of people who can talk the talk, but haven't got a clue as to what it means, or the ability to walk the walk...
So they pretend robots, or society, or government or "other people" will do that for them.
They see little reason to understand or produce or be responsible- and have no idea who they are, no stable image of their own identity.
They are unable to discern between fact and fantasy, unable to actually manage their own lives effectively.
Kind of like ping pong balls in a giant paint shaker. The future is random, there is no order, no objective, no control for them.

 

I'm not wishing for something.

If you don't realize that automation and AI are about to devastate the job market, i don't know what to tell you.

I'm not saying we need to make the machines do our work, i'm saying we need to figure out how we are going to adapt to the machines doing our work.

It's not just McDonalds and Truck drivers that are going away, it's doctors, lawyers, and everyone else too.

 

For the most part, machines don't replace people, they increase their productivity. That means that a job that once took a very long time can be done with the aid of machines in a very short time.
That also means that the same amount of human effort can produce perhaps 10 times as much in the way of goods and services- greatly contributing to the standard of living. Technical advance is very much like mechanical or machinery advance in this fashion. Hundreds of years ago, it took a swordsmith as much as a year to produce a really good sword- and it took him 10 years of apprenticeship to learn the skill.

The process of making a precision part used to require a highly educated engineer, a lot of drawings, slide-rule calculations, extensive research of written data to select materials, and all that translated into a blueprint and specifications- before it even started to be made. Even then, the ability to see all conflicts that might occur was limited, so the first things to build were prototypes. The work went to machinists- who despite having mills and lathes capable of precision, had to be highly skilled people themselves- years in training. Somebody designed the first lathe, the first mill, the first printing process. Today, the printer next to my desk can exceed the quality of everything that existed a hundred years ago- at a fraction of the price. We cut precision parts in our business with a laser, instead of saws. We don't work less- we produce more with the same effort, at less cost, in greater safety.

Today, an engineer has an idea. he opens his computer and sketches it out in Catia, a sophisticated CAD program. Let's say it's something working in close quarters and must be serviceable, perhaps aircraft landing gear. So as it comes together, he select a digital hand tool- and manipulates it through the motions a mechanic would need to reach into a space and around parts to manipulate a wrench. Without a prototype, he knows immediately if the space and design is accessible for service. As it develops, he applies the stress analysis utilities of the program and various tests that point out any weaknesses of design that need corrections. When he's done, he can run the part through simulated operations as it would be under actual operating loads, checking the design before it even becomes a product. Finally, it goes to the machine process, where another engineer creates a profile for the automated tools and machine sequence. Then, a human puts a billet of material on the machine, secures it and indexes the machine to it's starting point- and pushes a button.

The result is that all things we have cost less and become easier to own or use. However- they do not replace people altogether, they make the jobs more technical but far less physical, and open the doors to much more- like creating the GPS system and the satellites that let a cell phone navigate a journey for you.

When the diesel-electric locomotive was invented, the need for a "fireman" to shovel coal on a train was ended. That means they simply need to change their roles. Instead, they thought it a great injustice, and with the help of unions- we paid for firemen to ride trains doing nothing for many years. It wasn't that they couldn't adapt to other trades, it was that they refused to do so.... That's not a technology failure, it's a human one.

People- at least the whole and healthy ones- will always need to be productive; they will just advance to the next challenge, and take it on.

At the same time, there will always be those who seek a way to do nothing, to be nothing- and tell themselves that is living. The real danger of technical advancement is in that attitude, that lowers the value of humanity as technology increases the benefits. If you let the advancement turn you into something useless, that is your own fault. Technical advances do close some doors- but open many more.

If humans stop rising to the challenges, the opportunities- then we will simply fade away and become extinct. Given that there will always be some who are driven to explore, expand, increase knowledge and see what's possible, I don't think that will happen totally- but it might apply to a large share of us. Anything, anyone that can't find purpose and challenge in life despite the eternal change is already dying.

Don't hang around with them. It erodes your spirit and the quality of your life.

 

Have faith in mankind who are very adept at adapting. When you're 83-yeras-old like me you'll look back and agree mankind can adapt to anything, and does. We don't need to figure out anything today -- we'll cross each bridge as we come to it.

 

True- so long as we keep raising competent, capable children and don't destroy their belief in themselves and their natural desire to achieve.
The fact that some are attempting to do just that today may be the toughest bridge ever.

 

Leftists think socialism will help them but they'll be the first ones to starve to death.

People that can't survive in economies that generate the most wealth the world has ever seen certainly can't survive in economies that produce the least.

 

Real world consequences: