Technology causes high unemployment?

[RPfan1992]

This gaming forum that I like to visit has a political sub forum, where this user there said that businesses are doing very well in this economy and that the high unemployment is due to an uneducated workforce and technology replacing jobs. Here is what he said

Oneshot it comes down to this.....you somehow are able to consider a company "crushed" even though they are having record profits.. Please explain what you mean by crushed if not a company's bottom line. Productivity is at an all time high, not in some distressed state. We are on a collision coarse--that much is true. But it's not about instability, productivity, oppressive government or inability to generate profits, its about technology replacing people, and far too many uneducated Americans.

It's hard to sort through the mutual funds where most of our money is....but we're currently about 80% domestic.

Anyway, I want to know what everyone here on rpf think about this. I know that people think that technology doesn't replace jobs but I don't really know the specifics of that argument.

Here is the link to that thread

http://www.mektek.net/forums/topic/2...if-obama-wins/

[torchbearer]

imagine the extreme scenario. you have replicators that make and produce all your food. robot servants to make all your physicals like vehicles, houses, etc.
human effort is no longer required to provide for anyone's needs.
zero employment.
but yet, you have all your time to do what you want, you have home, transportation, food. your wealth is tremendous and you work none.
technology, increases our production which should lead to falling prices in a word of honest money. the falling prices is an increase in bounty for society.

[dannno]

imagine the extreme scenario. you have replicators that make and produce all your food. robot servants to make all your physicals like vehicles, houses, etc.
human effort is no longer required to provide for anyone's needs.
zero employment.
but yet, you have all your time to do what you want, you have home, transportation, food. your wealth is tremendous and you work none.
technology, increases our production which should lead to falling prices in a word of honest money. the falling prices is an increase in bounty for society.

Exactly, and you can use this example in the other direction as well.

We could remove technology from society completely and everybody could have a job plowing fields and harvesting crops. Everybody would have a job, but they wouldn't have much else, even food would be scarce.

[MelissaWV]

Not to mention that technology creates its own series of new niches.

You have people involved in the development and upkeep and marketing of the new technology, and if we get to the extreme that things are super efficient (like torch's example), you bet your butt that someone will come up with some new gadget or experience that everyone just HAS to have now that they have time for it.

[Ninja Homer]

Compare the entertainment industry before & after the Industrial Revolution, and you'll have the answer. When people have more time, they find other things to do with their time, and this creates jobs to replace the ones that were taken up by technology.

[MelissaWV]

To add to what I said, it's failure to adapt that causes high unemployment. If generations, or even individuals within their own lifetime, do not adapt to changing job markets... it's all going to go to hell very quickly.

[LibForestPaul]

He is parroting the propaganda from school.
Steam shovels.
Looms.
etc...

If unemployement is so high, and technology is the cause, then how do H1B visas come into play, especially regarding the high unemployement of white collar workers.? Ask him this.

[Zippyjuan]

imagine the extreme scenario. you have replicators that make and produce all your food. robot servants to make all your physicals like vehicles, houses, etc.
human effort is no longer required to provide for anyone's needs.
zero employment.
but yet, you have all your time to do what you want, you have home, transportation, food. your wealth is tremendous and you work none.
technology, increases our production which should lead to falling prices in a word of honest money. the falling prices is an increase in bounty for society.

If employment is zero, where do you get the money to purchase things with? The wealth would be with the robot owners and makers and repair men. We have seen a loss of jobs which require low skills and training and those are the people out of work today.

[dannno]

^I'm going to create a new theory to tackle this problem for people and I'm going to call it the Massage Therapy Theory.

Wouldn't you like to get a really good massage once a week or more?

What if you could give two 30 minute massages a week and live in a mansion, have a sports car and all the food you need? All for working 1 hour a week!! Would you take 20 or 40 hours of training to become a good massage therapist and be willing to live this lifestyle? I think most people who aren't already very wealthy would have no issue trading their 40 hour/week schedule for a 1 hour/week schedule, even if it means giving a couple of massages.

Pretend that soon in the future we have all the technology in the world, but no technology yet has been able to replicate a massage from a real human. As all of the other jobs disappear, people who don't own the means of production and were once laborers move into the massage therapy field. They give massages to the people who own the means of production, who basically just sit back and do nothing and have everything they want because they own machines that produce things for people. They are willing to pay $5,000 for a massage because they all have millions and millions of dollars flowing in. A massage therapist can then make $10k/week by giving two massages, then they can go out and buy all of the things being produced by those who own the means of production. Now those people have the money again and they can spend it on more massages. The reason the basket of goods that the massage therapist can now buy has grown so much is because the basket of goods the producer has produced vs. the amount of effort they have had to put in has grown exponentially. They don't mind paying extra because they create so much with so little effort.

Now you have a massage therapist who decides they want to give 8 massages a week for a few months, save up some money and buy their own means of production so they don't have to give massages anymore. Eventually more massage therapists begin to own their own means of production and they leave the field. Now there is a high demand for massages and few massage therapists left. Now a massage costs $10,000 and at some point some rich people decide they don't really need massages, they can take the next best alternative of a jacuzzi or massage chair. Yet others still want their massage at the higher price.

The fact is, humans will always want services performed on them, people love being pampered, served, etc.. The people who pamper will get paid a lot if there is a lot of stuff being produced by the people who they are pampering.

[torchbearer]

If employment is zero, where do you get the money to purchase things with? The wealth would be with the robot owners and makers and repair men. We have seen a loss of jobs which require low skills and training and those are the people out of work today.

if robots produce everything, prices are zero.
how could you charge for replicated pasta when anyone could get their own?