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Robots coming
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency, said Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company, late Friday.

    The robots will be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers, said Gou at a workers' dance party Friday night.

    The company currently has 10,000 robots and the number will be increased to 300,000 next year and 1 million in three years, according to Gou.


    Via: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-07/30/c_131018764.htm

    Reading such stuff I feel how unemployment will be reduced in US.
    Most probably people will be moved out of labor force with faster pace and robots included to make statistics look better.

  • 22 Replies sorted by
  • danyyyeldanyyyel
    I feel for the people of this company, telling his employees that they will be fired at the dance party Friday night. Someday when their will be no more workers to buy goods then who will buy them. Or there will only be the ultra rich and the rest of us beggars. They won't even need maids, gardeners etc because they will have robots to do everything.
  • danyyyeldanyyyel
    If I am not mistaken, It is the company where people where jumping from the roof?
  • wangcwangc
    everyyear Foxconn has several workers committed themselves suicide,,Foxconn want avoid such things happen again, robots will not kill themselves,haha..
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    >If I am not mistaken, It is the company where people where jumping from the roof?

    It is company that Apple or their competitors used as example of " company where people where jumping from the roof". Big economic interests.
    Plus US massmedia Chinese coverage is very bad and very far from reality.
  • tworemstworems
    Yeah! That's the stuff...

    I actually enjoy seeing this happening. It's kinda inevitable. Eventually, nobody will be working, nobody buys. The same as the music industry has its model getting old, everything else is going the same way. I believe there's a documentary that go over this, it's called Zeitgeist (there are 3 movies, I don't remember which one talks about it).
  • alcomposeralcomposer
    As for models- look at the Apple App Store- this is where a company has looked at creating a model where developers can make money. This is where Capitalism works- people making money makes money for other people etc.. It is no longer enough to be a 'good company' you have to create an eco-system to work within... Using people for what they are good for: Creativity & Problem Solving etc...

    Robots in factories is not a new thing- this is what the industrial revolution was about... it most probably wont end until there is no longer one person left in the factory- (maybe one- to switch on the power)
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    [whimsical] It's the future! How long have we been promised labour saving technology? And yet all of us still find ourselves with burdened with work! Finally will we have harnessed technology to free us from the shackles of work. How I've dreamed of the day when a robot does my job and I stay home! [/whimsical]

    Will technology eventually eliminate the need to work? What system do you use to divide up resources when there's no need to work? Could we work less for the same money? 20 hour weeks sound quite nice!

    (Perhaps you could convince everyone they need more stuff, new shiny things. Then the additional demand consumes resources and generates work, and hopefully keeps the economic machinery ticking.. Hmm.. This sounds sort of familiar.)
  • danyyyeldanyyyel
    I France also there many cases at France Telecom, the owner of Orange where people where throwing them-self through the window. There was a lot of coverage but I don't know how much outside of France.
  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd
    Robots don't reveal to the public what the upcoming products will be 1 month in advance.
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp
    @sam_stickland I'm pretty sure it was in the 1970s that people were talking about how computers would revolutionise work, and the only thing we'd have to worry about was how to spend our increased leisure time.

    Although I guess that's come true for some people - but they're the ones with the time and not the money!
  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd
    The robots don't have the money either. But you don't hear them complaining.
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp
    They're programmed not to.
  • stoneystoney
    You never know. Robots with built-in options and futures logic might be able to do that.
  • sdbestsdbest
    The problem with robots is that they make lousy customers. It's better to have an economy with high priced goods and high paid customers (i.e. workers) than one with low paid workers who can't afford the products being made.
  • AriaAria
    This has been coming since man 1st started to farm. They went from harvesting by hand and a sharp rock, to the sickle, to the large scythe, to horse drawn harvesters, to motorized harvester, to huge mechanized machines that not only harvest but process crops, clean and bundle it all in one. with each advance it reduced manual labor exponentially.

    People have to find a way to move to new industries and create a new form of employment. If too many people are left unemployable due to a lack of skills that fit a new market place, there will be a mass anti-technology movement from those left out of the loop. Here in the U.S. were we no longer make anything, there has to be a switch to new industries. Some have pushed Green tech and infrastructure upgrades as a way to get people back to work.
  • lsocorrolsocorro
    Start making robots and go 1 step ahead on this shitty ecosystem before all ends.
  • EOSHDEOSHD
    Vitaliy: "Reading such stuff I feel how unemployment will be reduced in US. Most probably people will be moved out of labor force with faster pace and robots included to make statistics look better."

    That's quite amusing :) In fact in the UK the government has been doing something similar for years!
  • Roy_BattyRoy_Batty
    I have two words for you cynics: "Soylent Green."
  • sam_sticklandsam_stickland
    @Aria

    But why - if there's less work to do - can't we all just do a little less work? I.e. Slash working hours by a 1/3 rather than have 1/3 unemployment. I'm not suggesting this - I'm just wondering about it.

    France, for example, has an interesting GDP / working-hours ratio:

    http://www.businessinsider.com/are-the-french-the-most-productive-people-in-the-world-2009-8
  • Mark_the_HarpMark_the_Harp
    @sam_stickland ...and the most glamorous swimmers!
  • EOSHDEOSHD
    The French have nice work life balance because competition is lower and the population is rather sparse.

    Complete opposite in China. I fear for that country's future I really do, which is a shame because it's a lovely part of the world.
  • stoneystoney
    China will rise fast... and fall fast. Environmental issue, drinking water and farming land issue, political issue, asset bubbles, etc. Prolly we will see the greatest mother of all asset bubbles bursting in China after the country soaks up all hot monies in the world. But the process could take decades. For many people that's long enough time horizon.

    I think average Joe in the States has much better life than one in China. GDP don't mean much. Rapid growth don't mean much if money don't trickle down to every towns. What matters is one's hometown. Improved schools? Improved amenities? Improved community activities? Improved cultivation? Improved environment? Improved health? I don't think China is doing well.
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