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KC
03-09-2013, 12:43 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rjPFqkFyrOY

According to NPR (http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/03/09/173841848/could-this-robot-save-your-job), Baxter is $22k robot capable of being taught, not programmed, by regular workers in an assembly line. He is adaptable, teachable, and most importantly affordable. The question I would like to ponder is whether Baxter is a threat to jobs.

According to the video, Baxter is made in the USA and he works alongside workers rather than replaces them. While the former point might be more of a marketing tool, bringing up feelings of patriotism, I don't think it's that important. The second point, however is a good one. Robots like Baxter increase productivity and create demand for workers that are able to supervise and maintain them, making their jobs more valuable to themselves and to their employer. They also do the menial tasks that workers shouldn't have to do, at a much lower cost to the producer, assuming that Baxter works as well as the company claims. Goods can be supplied more cheaply, allowing a greater supply of what is demanded to be brought to the market. Depending on the elasticity of demand for those products, this could even result in lower costs for consumers.

Conley
03-09-2013, 01:52 PM
Cool video....the only interesting thing to me about Baxter being made in the USA is wondering if you could use Baxters to make more Baxters! But on a serious note I'd say yes, Baxter is a threat to the jobs of regular assembly line workers. But even if there was no Baxter, those jobs would still be dying out and that's not a bad thing. Automation and outsourcing (where it is possible to support a family on a job like that) make it inevitable. People need to learn new skills. Expecting to be able to support a family with a job like that is just foolish...there was a time when you could do that but those days are gone and like anything else survival related it's adapt or die. Some jobs will be created by needing to oversee our new army of robot workers but not as many as will be lost (in absolute numbers, combined earnings would probably be closer).

KC
03-09-2013, 01:58 PM
Cool video....the only interesting thing to me about Baxter being made in the USA is wondering if you could use Baxters to make more Baxters! But on a serious note I'd say yes, Baxter is a threat to the jobs of regular assembly line workers. But even if there was no Baxter, those jobs would still be dying out and that's not a bad thing. Automation and outsourcing (where it is possible to support a family on a job like that) make it inevitable. People need to learn new skills. Expecting to be able to support a family with a job like that is just foolish...there was a time when you could do that but those days are gone and like anything else survival related it's adapt or die. Some jobs will be created by needing to oversee our new army of robot workers but not as many as will be lost (in absolute numbers, combined earnings would probably be closer).

I think you are right about that. The point of learning a skill or getting an education is make sure you can't be replaced by capital. I think the solution should be something along what Germany has done, giving High school-age kids the option of going to a vocational high school, which means they enter the workforce right away with some skill set employers can draw on. Academic high school should be for kids who want to be academics.

Conley
03-09-2013, 02:02 PM
I think you are right about that. The point of learning a skill or getting an education is make sure you can't be replaced by capital. I think the solution should be something along what Germany has done, giving High school-age kids the option of going to a vocational high school, which means they enter the workforce right away with some skill set employers can draw on. Academic high school should be for kids who want to be academics.

Exactly. And I'd also say vocation is even more of a worthy choice when so many college educations basically amount to indentured servitude at this point...it's madness to go 100k or more into debt unless you're studying a field that will definitely pay off.

KC
03-09-2013, 02:07 PM
Exactly. And I'd also say vocation is even more of a worthy choice when so many college educations basically amount to indentured servitude at this point...it's madness to go 100k or more into debt unless you're studying a field that will definitely pay off.

Yup. I totally agree. Unless you're lucky enough to have been raised in a family that is either totally broke or totally loaded, academic higher ed is a waste, unless of course you're going into a STEM field or something.

Conley
03-09-2013, 02:10 PM
If it was affordable I'd say hey everyone should go because I think education is great -- but the practical side says no way -- that kind of debt can negatively impact your life for years and years. It's really a shame.

KC
03-09-2013, 02:17 PM
If it was affordable I'd say hey everyone should go because I think education is great -- but the practical side says no way -- that kind of debt can negatively impact your life for years and years. It's really a shame.

I feel really bad for my middle class friends that are getting themselves into all of this debt with loans and stuff. Some of them are bright and going into fields where they'll find employment, but the friends I worry about are the ones who are studying less employable fields, like music.

Mister D
03-09-2013, 02:43 PM
At this point, I tend to think higher education is pointless unless you are seeking specialized training in the sciences etc. A man can become educated all on his own. I would have skipped college if I had to do it over again.

Conley
03-09-2013, 02:55 PM
At this point, I tend to think higher education is pointless unless you are seeking specialized training in the sciences etc. A man can become educated all on his own. I would have skipped college if I had to do it over again.

That's true...I think there's something to be said for discussion with your peers and a professor in a lot of education which you would miss out on just doing it yourself. The socialization / maturing outside of the classroom is part of it for some people too IMO

Mister D
03-09-2013, 03:15 PM
That's true...I think there's something to be said for discussion with your peers and a professor in a lot of education which you would miss out on just doing it yourself. The socialization / maturing outside of the classroom is part of it for some people too IMO

Yeah, I was thinking about the socialization aspect when I posted this. Good point.

I can honestly say I didn't learn much in college. I came in with certain attitudes about life and politics and I left with them. What it do was force me to articulate a defense of those attitudes. That was the primary benefit but I'd like think I would not have needed that. Perhaps at 20 but as I matured I think it would have been inevitable.