It is difficult to object to automation if the statistics clearly show that possibility. The latest evidence comes from the factory in Dongguan China. This factory recently replaced 90% of human resources with machines, so productivity improved by 250% and defective rate reduced by 80%.
At the factory of Changying Precision Technology, 650 workers were needed to manufacture mobile phones. Today, this factory consists of 60 robot arms, and it operates 24 hours on 10 production lines. The company has only 60 employees. Three of them are in charge of inspection and monitoring of the production line and the other one is in charge of monitoring the computer control system. The rest of the work that is not handled by humans is entrusted to the hands of competent machines.
According to factory general manager Luo Weiqiang, the number of employees is only 20 people and other factories will follow their footprints in the near future, given the level of efficiency achieved by automation.
But there is a price for this efficiency. It is our job. Indeed, according to a joint study between Oxford University and Oxford Martin University, "[...] 47% of US employment is at risk of automation over the next 20 years."
And these are not just factory work. With the speed of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), machines can quickly take over tasks of various industries, even if it is superior to humans, it can do it. In the early days of our inevitable automation, we already have a parking ticket, artificial intelligence providing medical diagnosis, human doctor, robot "journalist", and AI that can go beyond the patient's human counterpart I have a robot attorney who can protect therapists. Extract necessary personal information
In the era of automation, the uncertainty of the future employment of people is already clarified. And the machine is ready to get increasingly better in what they do. Fortunately, government and private organizations seriously consider this issue and are proposing potential solutions to employee separation.
This includes Universal Basic Income (UBI), a system where all citizens of a country receive unconditional income generated by other means. Pilot studies have started in countries such as India, Canada and Finland, and promising results have been obtained so far. It is premature to say whether UBI can solve the broad unemployment problem caused by automation, but when we change it may prove to be a powerful economic move I do not think so.
In one case, the factory in China, which manufactures mobile phones at Dongguan recently replaced 90% of its employees with machines and improved productivity by 250%. With Changying Precision Technology, the number of employees has been reduced from 650 to 60 people. According to the general manager of the factory, Luo Weiqiang, this number can be reduced to 20 people. In the absence of manufacturing industry to build a middle class, income disparities in developing countries may increase. It was shaped into a basic economic structure. The most disadvantaged person may try luck and transition to other places. This gives us insight into important insights that Leontief closed his thought experiment:
It is difficult to object to automation if the statistics clearly show that possibility. The latest evidence comes from the factory in Dongguan China. This factory recently replaced 90% of human resources with machines, so productivity improved by 250% and defective rate reduced by 80%. At the factory of Changying Precision Technology, 650 workers were needed to manufacture mobile phones. Today, this factory consists of 60 robot arms, and it operates 24 hours on 10 production lines. The company has only 60 employees. Three of them are in charge of inspection and monitoring of the production line and the other one is in charge of monitoring the computer control system. The rest of the work that is not handled by humans is entrusted to the hands of competent machines.