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"They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians." (Photo: Universal Robots)
Are You Ready For Corporate America's Robot Economy?
It’s to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite.
Oct 20, 2017
There's a robot in your future. Not one of those cute little labor-saving automatons - like a "Roomba" vacuum cleaner.
Far from saving you from doing extra labor, this new wave of robots is being brought into your workplace to rescue corporate bosses from paying you to work for them. Oh, you might think, not my workplace, for I'm not a factory worker - I've got a college degree and I work with my brain, so no contraption doing rote mechanical tasks can take my job.
But wait, these are "thinking machines," implanted with complex neural networks and superfast algorithmic computers that operate in sync, functioning much like the cluster of specialized cells in the human brain. These brainy bots have a fast-evolving ability to watch, listen, and learn on their own, even able to produce and teach other robots. Not only are they displacing flesh-and-blood workers on factory assembly lines, but millions of them are now being moved into professional, managerial, creative, and other occupations previously assumed to be the secure domains of higher-educated, higher-paid people... maybe even yours.
To be clear, it's not robots that are taking our jobs, but corporate profiteers. They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians. It's to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite - and they're pushing it hard and fast, hoping We the People don't wake up until it's too late.
Robots are not our enemy - the corporate bosses, bankers, and BSers who own robots are the ones doing this to us, and now is the time for all of us whom they're about to discard to rebel against their socially destructive greed.
An Unconstitutional Rampage
Trump and Musk are on an unconstitutional rampage, aiming for virtually every corner of the federal government. These two right-wing billionaires are targeting nurses, scientists, teachers, daycare providers, judges, veterans, air traffic controllers, and nuclear safety inspectors. No one is safe. The food stamps program, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are next. It’s an unprecedented disaster and a five-alarm fire, but there will be a reckoning. The people did not vote for this. The American people do not want this dystopian hellscape that hides behind claims of “efficiency.” Still, in reality, it is all a giveaway to corporate interests and the libertarian dreams of far-right oligarchs like Musk. Common Dreams is playing a vital role by reporting day and night on this orgy of corruption and greed, as well as what everyday people can do to organize and fight back. As a people-powered nonprofit news outlet, we cover issues the corporate media never will, but we can only continue with our readers’ support. |
© 2023 Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
There's a robot in your future. Not one of those cute little labor-saving automatons - like a "Roomba" vacuum cleaner.
Far from saving you from doing extra labor, this new wave of robots is being brought into your workplace to rescue corporate bosses from paying you to work for them. Oh, you might think, not my workplace, for I'm not a factory worker - I've got a college degree and I work with my brain, so no contraption doing rote mechanical tasks can take my job.
But wait, these are "thinking machines," implanted with complex neural networks and superfast algorithmic computers that operate in sync, functioning much like the cluster of specialized cells in the human brain. These brainy bots have a fast-evolving ability to watch, listen, and learn on their own, even able to produce and teach other robots. Not only are they displacing flesh-and-blood workers on factory assembly lines, but millions of them are now being moved into professional, managerial, creative, and other occupations previously assumed to be the secure domains of higher-educated, higher-paid people... maybe even yours.
To be clear, it's not robots that are taking our jobs, but corporate profiteers. They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians. It's to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite - and they're pushing it hard and fast, hoping We the People don't wake up until it's too late.
Robots are not our enemy - the corporate bosses, bankers, and BSers who own robots are the ones doing this to us, and now is the time for all of us whom they're about to discard to rebel against their socially destructive greed.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
There's a robot in your future. Not one of those cute little labor-saving automatons - like a "Roomba" vacuum cleaner.
Far from saving you from doing extra labor, this new wave of robots is being brought into your workplace to rescue corporate bosses from paying you to work for them. Oh, you might think, not my workplace, for I'm not a factory worker - I've got a college degree and I work with my brain, so no contraption doing rote mechanical tasks can take my job.
But wait, these are "thinking machines," implanted with complex neural networks and superfast algorithmic computers that operate in sync, functioning much like the cluster of specialized cells in the human brain. These brainy bots have a fast-evolving ability to watch, listen, and learn on their own, even able to produce and teach other robots. Not only are they displacing flesh-and-blood workers on factory assembly lines, but millions of them are now being moved into professional, managerial, creative, and other occupations previously assumed to be the secure domains of higher-educated, higher-paid people... maybe even yours.
To be clear, it's not robots that are taking our jobs, but corporate profiteers. They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians. It's to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite - and they're pushing it hard and fast, hoping We the People don't wake up until it's too late.
Robots are not our enemy - the corporate bosses, bankers, and BSers who own robots are the ones doing this to us, and now is the time for all of us whom they're about to discard to rebel against their socially destructive greed.
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