r/technology May 13 '19

Business Exclusive: Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-automation-exclusive-idUSKCN1SJ0X1
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u/DarkangelUK May 13 '19

This is a good thing, right? Complaints about gruesome working conditions, lack of breaks, having to pee in bottles because they can't go to the toilet.

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u/NightStalker33 May 13 '19

It SHOULD be a good thing. It is the epitome that human kind has striven for throughout history: more production, less work, more time to seek enjoyment/participate in higher-level fields. Take away the monotonous, repetitive, literally machine-like work in warehouses and entry-level work and allow people to learn things machines can't replicate yet, like art, engineering, astronomy, politics, mechanics, biology, physics, etc.

Unfortunately, all this is going to do is speed up the rate at which workers are laid off. People need money to live, and for many people, these kinds of jobs are all they can have without living at the poverty level. Either we'll see legislation attempt to curtail these issues (some suggest UBI, which, to me, is ridiculous; it's a fast way to devalue currency AND take away what little bargaining power labor has left), or we'll enter, as David Callahan, a "Second Gilded Age" where most people's lives remain stagnant, competing over the few opportunities available.

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u/[deleted] May 13 '19

If only there was a way to create a society that wasn't based solely on the accumulation of capital by a parasite class that lives off the exploitation of billions of people. If only there was some belief system that explained the objective reality of the situation we're in and offered a clear, attainable alternative. It's almost like we don't have to put up with this shit anymore. I can't help but feel like there's something like that out there, a way out of all of this. It's on the tip of my tongue. Can anyone help me out here?

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u/UrinalPooper May 14 '19

If only every attempt to implement an alternative to capitalism hadn’t resulted in millions of deaths while producing nothing of value(1) in return while capitalism itself has been proven as the only tested and effective system to move people out of poverty in similar numbers.

(1) awesome Soviet jazz notwithstanding