Can Robots Fix Inflation, Supply Chain and Labor Issues? Singapore Thinks So

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Watch: With advanced robots and 3-D printers, HP in Singapore has automated many of its manufacturing processes.

wsj.com
Can Robots Fix Inflation, Supply Chain and Labor Issues? Singapore Thinks So
With advanced robots and 3-D printers, HP in Singapore has automated many of its manufacturing processes. WSJ visits the facility to unpack

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[Chainfire]

1. There is always the question; if workers are replaced by robots

there is no question about who will reap the rewards, but who will buy the products that the machines produce? The people who actually call the shots are not about to share the wealth with unemployed workers. The very wealthy already despise the working class as some kind of untermenschen. If we lose our usefulness as the producers of wealth what value do we have?

Automation is inevitable, and in a fair world it could cause more wealth and happiness for all, but unless social issues are resolved it could cause more problems than it solves.

[Warpy]

2. Instead of working in factories where molded plastic or metal items are made

they'll be working in recycling plants where worn out printed items are turned back into material that can be handled by the printers. The work will be less satisfying since people genuinely want to produce something beautiful and/or immediately useful.

Most of us will still be cogs in a machine, it will just be a different type of machine. Owners and rulers will try to eliminate even the recycling, mining, and refinery jobs, but that just means other jobs will pop up to service those robots, too.

So good luck to Singapore.

I'm all for automation replacing the kind of donkey work that wrecks people's bodies and kills them off in their 50s. I just know it has limits. We don't actually need robots, but they need us.

[peppertree]

3. +1

This has unintended consequences written all over it, for the very reasons you articulated.

Singapore is small and self-contained. They also benefit, like few other places, from being an entrepôt (as well as a money laundry).

In a country as vast as complex as ours, excessive robotization would only add to social discontent - and inevitably, fascist creep.