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The Changing World Of Work 5: "Human Robots" and High-Level Skills
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog, (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 here)
A diploma by itself does not create value; only experiential skills create value.
While it is impossible to summarize the job market in a vast, dynamic economy, we can say that the key to any job is creating value. That can be anything from serving someone a plate of mac-and-cheese to fixing a decaying fence to feeding chickens to securing web servers to managing a complex project--the list is essentially endless.
The question is: how much value does the labor create? The value created, and the number of people who are able to do the same work, establishes the rate employers can afford to pay for that particular task/service.
As noted elsewhere in this series, work that can be commoditized has low value because it can be outsourced or replaced by software and machines. In cases where it is not tradable, i.e. it cannot be performed overseas, the value is limited by the profit margins of the service being provided and the number of people who can perform the work.
In many cases, for example, the fast food industry, workers are trained to become human robots, highly efficient at repeating the same tasks dozens of times per shift.
The severe limitation of human robot jobs is that they rarely offer much opportunity to learn a wide variety of skills--precisely what enables us to create more value with our labor.
Longtime correspondent Kevin K. describes how this lack of opportunity is a function of Corporate America, which demands every employee follow set procedures to homogenize the customer experience throughout the company and insure the product is the same everywhere in the market sector.
Small business, in contrast, allows for young employees to learn by doing a wider range of tasks and perhaps even experiment with products and placement. Here's Kevin's commentary:
On our way home yesterday we stopped for lunch at a Rubios (a Mexican chain with about 200 locations). I was telling my wife that the young people working for minimum wage at the sterile corporate Rubios today have a VERY different work experience than my friend Sean had working at the second Rubios in 1985 where he got to work side by side with founder Ralph Rubio.
Looking around the mall, 100% of the stores were big chains with 100+ locations and corporate top-down management where just about anyone with an 8th grade education can do 90% of the jobs and people don't have any ability to do anything different or get creative.
When I worked in the local grocery store in High School I could put items where I thought they would sell best (we would keep track of this to see if say Bud Light sold faster after we moved it above the Coors Light closer to eye level, after I got down from the roof after adjusting the beer case HVAC unit to make it colder).
Today kids in retail have to put everything in the exact spot that the corporate marketing people tell them to put it (and would never be allowed to get on the roof and work on the HVAC system).
Correspondent David C. related the results of conversations he recently had with two young American engineers working for major companies in the U.S. The take-away reinforces one of the key points made earlier in this series: that creativity, communication and collaboration are as important as engineering skills in creating high value goods and services. Here is David's commentary:
Young Engineer #1's job (as I understand it) is to take what the people in "Business" want (to offer a new product, to mine the data for new opportunities, etc.) and
1. through his knowledge of the firm's technology databases and data structures say whether what is desired is even possible, or propose parallel alternatives, and
2. determine how a new set of programming instructions would be structured to work with existing systems and produce the desired output.The actual coding is off-shored to coders in India. He writes essentially zero code, despite being assigned previously to a COBOL-language mainframe system.
Young Engineer #2 noted that essentially everything being taught in Comp Sci classes in college is outmoded. He said that now there are entire libraries of open-source code available, and people doing a project simply have to organize the pieces, seeking out and copying "prior art" that is freely available to accomplish tasks of great complexity without reinventing the wheel for any of it.
I got the impression that while knowing how to write actual instructions and compile them may be useful base knowledge, it's simply not relevant to day-to-day work in the field.
Both of these explanations inform me that the basic skill needed is highly abstract, conceptual thinking, the ability to organize multiple elements into a coherent whole and to think through IN ADVANCE the series of intermediate results that combine into a final output.
Then add another necessary skill: interpersonal communication. Young Engineer #1 notes that foreign students in the US getting advanced degrees in STEM fields are wildly intelligent, but in his experience they simply can't connect with the "people in Business." The gulf between them is too wide, and so despite being fabulously intelligent and skilled, the overseas-educated engineers often can't deliver what the firm actually needs.
The overseas-educated engineers are often extremely bright and very skilled at the academics of engineering, but are often hamstrung by cultural variables that render them poor at problem-solving, especially when individual initiative and willingness to break convention are what's needed.
Kevin submitted a U.S. Census chart of the educational attainment of everyone 25 and older. His comment sheds light on one of the structural difficulties in creating high value: the number of college graduates exceeds the number of positions that create enough value to demand high wages. Kevin commented:
In the last 40 years the number of people over 25 without a HS diploma has been cut in half while the number of people over 25 with a college degree has more than doubled. The only problem (as you pointed out a while back when you said that having 10 people get PhDs in chemical engineering this year will not create 10 new jobs for chemical engineers this year) is that the number of jobs that "need" college degrees has not doubled.
A diploma by itself does not create value; only experiential skills create value. The more skills a person owns across a range of disciplines and trades--not just specialized skills but the professional skills of problem-solving and bringing out the best in others--the greater the opportunities for value creation and matching compensation.
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I friggin HATE self-checkout
When to use self-checkout: When you're exiting Home Depot with 3 screws, and there's no one in line for self-checkout in front of you, and you can pay with plastic.
When to use human-checkout: All other conditions.
BB-8 knows how to roll: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnDdSSFenRk
Programmers can create their own products, reproducible for the cost of copying bits. It is an MBA's fantasy that they can replace us with offshore crap. I have worked with offshore crap. They can be taken out by two american kids in a garage, every time.
Hell, no. Self-checkout makes the shopping experience much quicker, and the less time I spend in stores the happier I am.
Besides, those checkers being forced out is a GOOD thing. The more people are marginalized by the industrial economy, the sooner we can start as a group learning to build new societies in it's cracks. Jobs not good. Jobs BAD. Jobs maintain the status quo. It all needs to fucking burn.
Yes,,, it's amazing how many are happy assist others to lose their yob, until.........
It actually takes a bit of effort to memorize a few hundred PLU's, and different items come and go. Plus, they have to be able to do this on the fly, now the lady is pissed that you can't recall the four digit code for organic leeks . . .
Instead of simply tossing the bag on the scale, say "organic leeks" into your voice recognition device.
Self-checkout only sucks for stuff you need PLU codes for, like produce. Everything with a bar code on it is a breeze. I can blast through self checkout with a couple dozen items in just a few minutes. It's even better when I just have a few things to grab from the store, and I'm not stuck behind some old biddy with 25 items in the 15-or-less lane, who insists on writing a friggin' check.
Or if you wanna purchase wine and have to wait five minutes for the busy Sefl-check attendant to get to you.
Naw, self checkout rocks for bulk items like wild brown rice, which can easily be obtained for a fraction of the cost by using another PLU, say for barley. I suspect there are weight parameters programmed to to keep me from buying saffron at the price of oatmeal. They think the robot is saving them money by reducing labor overhead, hm.
I get a kick out of the signs: "Cash, Credit, Cash, Check This Line Only." I ask the kid, what the hell other means of payment are there? Bartering services? And the kid leans close and whispers, "food stamps."
I hope you're not suggesting gaming the system to compete with EBT card users where certain items purchased with EBT actually gives them a discount over conventional ways of buying via cash or plastic.
After all, we are where we are today because integrity has eroded into insignificance and bad behaviors are rewarded.
'Knowledge is not power - it is nothing of the sort, Applied Knowledge put to a useful purpose is power' - Napolean Hill (100 Years ago basically)
The reality is we live in a world of incredible surplus - so much so that the 'controllers / elite' or whatever you want to call them have great difficulty maintining scarcity.
But the only thing that is truly in scarcity is your time. It doesn't matter if you are homeless are worth 100 billion dollars the one who has it made is the one who has control of his or her time. To get control of that time from you the elite had to create debt - and by using debt inflate the cost of your living so that you would take up jobs you would never normally do so that you can continue living.
It is the biggest fraud and scam in history. Technology could make a 15 hour work week, but by debt they have recreated scarcity - making people pay $500,000 for homes that really are worth $50,000 - and putting them on a near eternal treadmill of slavish work robbing them of the only thing that was scarce - their time.
But had society whole heartedly refused to borrow that debt the banks and their controlling elite would become powerless costs would of never inflated and people wouild have reclaimed the only scarce item - their own time.
Yes, to this. The more productive we've become, the more work is unloaded onto us. Remember in movies from the 1950's-60's where there were massive typing pools working on the documents for a big company? Now done by a handful of people on PCs. I'm not suggesting we go back to IBM Selectrics, but the whole "computers will make 3-day workweeks the standard" B.S. we used to hear was clearly misguided. Not saying the creators and prognosticators were lying, but they missed the intent and greed of the people using their products...
And I want my flying car, too, dammit.
I think, I can never earn over which I paid by my precedent employer, but I was wrong, world is so large to try their fate.but now I am making $92/hr even more, can easily minimum $1700/week, on the experience everyone must try to do work online, easy way to earn, here's an example what I do... www.globe-report.com
They're just doing the work the regular Mexicans don't want to do.
Are you a Mexican, or a Mexicant?
I'm a Mexican Replicant Model 5 and I can simultaneously pick lettuce, spray paint murals and impregnate Hispanic females all in the same sequence.
robots in war USA using them exploding drone small and deadly: The Switchblade’s utility as a kamikaze drone has been known for years. It’s made by AeroVironment, of Monrovia, Calif., a firm that has developed a number of small unmanned aircraft. But most media reports about it have focused on how ground troops could launch it at a target. It can be carried in a backpack, and has wings that flip out after it is fired from a tube, company officials say.
Bring on the robots, I'm tired of having to come into contact with you plebes...
My Roomba is more qualified than many recent kollege graduates.
Roomba 1000, Now with less student debt!
The true elephant in the room is the self-driving car. When that is accepted, perfected and legalized they will immediately move to replace truck drivers. Instead of some immigrant caffiene-laced zombie weaving down the road and having the odd tire rim come flying off while the guy is half asleep robots will replace him.
This will make shock waves in the economy the likes we have never seen because now we are breaking a backbone trade. Of course this will span a new type of criminal who will raid the trucks while they drive, and from that create a industry (again) where armed security guards will have to re-man select trucks (aka a cigarette truck can have $1 million in cargo).
If you want a job in business, learn how to bs out your ass and also be the expert at what you are doing, whatever it is. You can skip the 4 year party/orgy and the student loans if you have a brain and some drive.
As a clinical microbiologist I am relatively well paid. However, with the rapid change in technology, this will end.
Fifteen years ago DNA/RNA extractions were done by hand, were very difficult to do without contamination and took 8+ hrs. Now they are done by robots which has vastly improved throughput and decreased contamination. I had hoped my job would be redefined and I would become proficient maintaining these beasts. Not so. The vendors have made contractual agreements preventing me to service them ( I was told I could not even change a simple part, only a field technician was allowed) as well as keeping the software locked so I cannot view proprietary information to be used in diagnosing failed runs. Literally they expect me to push a button and if it doesn't work, call someone.
Soon all classic microbiology will be gone. No growing out bacteria and seeing what drugs will be effective to kill them. We will simply look at the DNA to find genetic resistance. New students are being trained now with 100k plus in debt. I hate to tell them this field is ending and they are unfortunately fucked.
I am not a Luddite but there must be a better way.
Miffed
I worked in a molecular lab for awhile, and it was all button pushing. Load robot, press go. Unload robot, dispose of plates. Billions of data points went to the software for analysis, and a report would be spit out. I guess it beat loading gels and photographing them. In a 5 year span they went from running SSRs in gels to genomifying everything. The increase in throughput was astonishing.
The world has had Alphas, Betas and Gammas for the last 6000 years. The relative ratios varied a bit, but they were always there. Plan accordingly.
"Alpha, Beta or Gamma? What's in your head/wallet?"
Have the confidence of an alpha, work like a beta, dress like a gamma.
Retrain as a DNA/RNA analysis machine manufacturer.
I like your comments, so I'll share this with you:
Back in the 60's, in Macluhan's "Understanding Media", he wrote "the dominant form of work in the future will be paid learning", which he later condensed into one of his gnomic sayings "Learning a living".
I'm a data analyst with a small company. When they don't know something, it's my job to find out. Every report is new, every BI template is new, and once I'm done with them, I rarely touch them again (well, except to add more, new reports).
I try to keep learning all the time. Since I left university as an EE, I've learned Pascal, SQL, VBA, QlikView scripting - and those are just the languages! I worked on the first laser printing systems from Xerox, where we had to layout every page with their PDL (Page Description Language - the father of HTML, actually); today, you just put paper in your printer and go. Everything that can be stored in silicon will, eventually, and if I don't keep on keepin' on, I'll be useless.
Gettin' near the end of the ride for me, but I still try to learn something new from every job and every task.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane with my husband. He was fascinated by all things computer. In 1982 he was wiring his own boards and trying to get it to control his Z scale model railroad. He'd give me a long lost to pick up at Radio Shack. The EE nerd students asked me detailed questions what he was doing and I just shrugged my shoulders, sorry boys, I'm just the parts donkey. I called his homemade computer Porcupine because if I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night I'd always stepped on an integrated circuit or a capacitor and screamed. He learned everything. Software, firmware and hardware.
He complains people coming out of college today know languages and tools but have no understanding how everything works. They are clueless in R&D, pure lab developement of a whole product.
In many ways this is happening to my field as well. In 10-20 years there will be phenomenal brain drain.
Miffed;-)
We're in the same field, hold the same degree, and do the same job.
I like the term "paid learning", it fit's like a glove. I always called it JITL (Just In Time Learning).
Wade into SAP systems, or Siebel, or worst case some legacy data dump, and try to find the wanted information and generate a specific report out of it, or even setup a BI environment to enable experienced business users without in-depth technical knowledge to click together their own reports.
I'm forced to learn pretty much all the time, and my interest is always to grasp the inner workings if that is possible in the given time.
I enjoy the rare week where I'm only using bits of knowledge I'd already learned before.
Miffed,
Have you considered
Just Brainstorming. Adapting before you become obsolete/circumvented by cheap clones.
Regards,
Ah cesium chloride gradients! Then there was Qiagen and the world was forever different! ;)
Many of the elites warn that all major jobs will be roboticised in the next 20 years.
They envision a future where only elite mental workers with advanced skill will do mental work...the rest is done by robots.
I think they're nuts!
Look, where do competent mental workers come from?
Is there anyone anywhere that really believes formal education fully transmits all needed skills to a new generation?
Most of what the human race learns, we learn by doing.
If the robots are doing all of it, then nobody is learning.
Eventually the robots will break down because no one remembers how to repair them... Yeah, year, robot-repairing robot. But that doesn't change the outcome, only the timing. A robot performs an encoded pre-formulated procedure. A robot cannot evaluate the world and determine what procedure should be formulated. So, the timeline to robotic failure simply gets extended long enough for the robot-repairing robot to break down, or for its encoded knowledge to break down.
What? You thought electronically stored information was forever? Bad news for you. It isn't. It is less durable than paper.
Elites, and others without true knowledge of science and mathetmatics, thinks we are SO advanced that we will reach some teleological point in the near future.
Truth is, we are SO much dumber than we realize. Just yesterday I read an article where a medicine book written in the 9th century had a cure for eye infections, that not only works, but actually kills drug resistant bacteria. We have lost so much knowledge over the years as we have continued to diverge from nature its boggling.
Our medical knowledge is actually crap. Its akin to pumping rodents with every chemical imaginable (or extracted from plants in the Amazon) and seeing what happens. We BARELY know how our metabolism works. We still don't know how memory works. We essentially know bits and pieces here and there, something postulated to be 1-2% of complete knowledge of the human body.
We have no idea how gravity fits into our mathematical models (string theory is a joke. its been repeatedly labeled as a mathematical rabbit-hole that cant even get basic physics right).
We are just beginning to manipulate materials at the nano scale. Next step would be uno-molecular. Then femto (actually creating molecules out of electrons, protons, neutrons, etc).
We can't even build an engine that surpasses 37% efficiency (see Carnot cycle).
We have actually proven a number of Einsteins theories to be wrong, have observed that a number of Stephen Hawking's ideas about gravity and blackholes are wrong.
We haven't even been able to live in space self-sufficiently. Not even on the moon.
We misconstrue bizarre radio wave frequencies (originally postulated to be from possible extra-terrestrial sources) that are actually from open microwave ovens.
But, in one way, we have grown exponentially: our egos.
I upvoted you for that excellent summary.
The fact of the matter is that the Elites are elite only by virtue of two qualities:
1) Birth
2) Hubris/Arrogance
To anyone who actually works with the technological means they look like they are absolutely off their rockers. But you can't say so loudly for fear of reprisal.
(I should have added a third out-performing quality of the current elites: Tyranical)
I run into these folks occasionally in the course of work, ultra-rich and/or politically powerful. The first few dozen times I expected to be dazzled by their incisive brilliance. Instead I was dazzled by the spectre of their banality, mediocrity, and ultimately undeserved reputations.
They are where they are only because of social connection.
We can't even build an engine that surpasses 37% efficiency (see Carnot cycle).
Wrong. Most electric motors run at 90%+ efficiency. Hydro power generation is fairly efficient. So, even factoring in battery losses, it's still possible to break the Carnot limits with an engine that is not powered by internal combustion.
See? You're just as much a victim of the "can't see the forest for the trees" as the rest of us.
So get on it genius times a wastin'!
These issues of robotics, productivity, etc., keep popping up as purely economic issues.
As time goes on it seems these are really human, social and religious questions. People are treated merely as another input or commodity to an economic problem. Expendable humananity is a sorry commentary on the social order.
There are a lot of skilled jobs available but the thing is having the skills. Far too many people go to college to get a degree instead of an education and it shows up in where they end up working. When I graduated in the 70's a liberal arts degree could get you a decent paying job in corporate America because it was assumed you had a broad, general knowledge and the ability to learn new things fairly quickly. Now it'll barely qualify you to sling coffee and if your degree is from an 'elite' university, your a special snowflake who demands a high level job instead of entry level. This is a highly complex, skill dependent world we live in but it's coming to a close because there aren't enough people who know how to keep the machinery of civilization running.
I always said that a college degree was for-the-most-part, a waste of time. I laugh at the sheeple who mindlessly persue a college degree and debt themselves to the max for it. I have been self-employed my whole life and am glad I never bought into the 'you need college' mantra. I never even finished High School and make a lot more than most with college degrees. I figured out what my skills were and tought myself how to make money with them.
College is mostly for those who can't think outside of the box, don't have any natural skills, or don't have the balls to create their own destiny. They need some professor to 'teach' them something.
This is the price we pay for becomming a nation of employees....
Bring on the down votes bitchez!
I always find first generation providing college education for their second generation kids. I shudder when they say they just want them to have a better life.
It's pretty fucking downright science that second generation becomes soft and downright useless because they didn't have challenges that their first generation encountered. By the time they are third generation, most fortune is blown, and they are on the gooberment plantation.
Share it, brother fastrak! However, you shouldn't be laughing at the sheeple because . . .you hold their debt! It's like there's a few million Alexis Tsipras out there on campus, partying on, screaming fuck you bitch, we ain't payin'!
My skills for the modern workplace: Vlookup, hlookup, sumifs, array functions (shift-ctrl-enter), pivot tables, undo, and most of all, CONTROL P.
And if in doubt, use ESC or F1.
If all else fails, ALT-F4 fixes everything.
Or ask Siri.
My brother, while driving his car, had Siri causing him grief, beyond belief. He finally got pissed and started calling her a bitch and a whore. Siri responded with "Would you like me to find an Adult Escort Service?"
Ummm, you missed the most important one, CTRL-C. Sad but true.
Master ALT F11 and the world will beat a path to your door.
I'm wondering how much of these changes in relevant work skills has been driven by the decimation of the manufacturing sector and financialization of the U.S. economy? From what I understand one of the main reasons we traditionally had good paying STEM jobs was we had a manufacturing sector that needed skills targeted toward optimizing efficent production.
Should we expect to see China mimic the skills composition of the U.S. workforce in say the mid 1950s ? Will they start produce a large crop of scientists and engineers as they move to higher levels of production as the cheap widgets business wanes ?
The 1950s are gone and not coming back to China, but they already are supporting a much better engineering workforce than the US. Don't believe this crap about high level design done by the US and mere manufacturing being done by Chinese human robots. There are large areas now where all engineering needs to be done by the Chinese, who own all the production know-how.
Fortunately, the Chinese prefer commoditization too, or they'd really be killing us, I mean killing us much faster. Which came first, the outsourcing or the commoditization? Both at once.
"The 1950s are gone and not coming back to China, but they already are supporting a much better engineering workforce than the US. Don't believe this crap about high level design done by the US and mere manufacturing being done by Chinese human robots. There are large areas now where all engineering needs to be done by the Chinese, who own all the production know-how.
Fortunately, the Chinese prefer commoditization too, or they'd really be killing us, I mean killing us much faster. Which came first, the outsourcing or the commoditization? Both at once."
Funny you said this. Just last night I had a discussion with my oldest son about several things and the topic veered into robotics. I mentioned how the Japanese have for decades led the world in the invention, refinement and deployment of robots, both industrial and personal.
I told him also that the shift of manufacturing, even from Japan to China meant that China has to do relatively LITTLE industrial espionage anymore since all the plans are given to them by both Western AND Eastern countries looking to manufacture goods for the cheapest labor cost and to export the pollution that will naturally be created from said industrial processes.
The take away was this....China will lead the world in robotics very, very soon, much for the same reason as Japan. Growing aging population base and the cost of supporting those folks. In America and Europe we will be all TOO happy to import that Asian robotic technology (plus its A.I.) for much the same reason. Too much costs to support the Baby Boomer Age Tsunami and the mountains of Governmental and Personal Debt which is crowding out any constructive debt issuance for real, durable goods manufacturing and services.
All in the name of keeping the Elites fat and happy. With slaves at their service, both made of Silicon and Steel.....and unfortunately, Flesh as well.
The problem with many Asians is they are very incapable of thinking outside the box and doing real problem solving (of course there are many exceptions). I've worked with LOTS of Asians in science and they never quite live up to the expectations unless they have specific instructions.
or should I just move to Chile and grow grapes...
Or poppies in Afghanistan. If you don't mind working for the CIA, that is.
Charles C's stuff about Engineer #1 and Engineer #2 is bullcrap. That is, he recites the current myths accurately, but they are current myths. Unfortunately a lot of the current practices also follow these current myths.
I have a lot to say about this, but probably this isn't the place ...
Anyway we have to get back to the other side of things, the business side - if you want to have 1,000 franchise locations you pretty much HAVE to commoditize the jobs, not just to save money but there simply aren't enough smart people out there to do everything, and asking one guy to do everything is going to limit his expertise in any one area anyway, he probably won't be much better overall then six specialized minimum-wage dummies.
The problem comes when you try to extend that logic to management, or, say, the presidency, making the white house just franchise #1001 for Goldman Sachs.
It doesn't appear to be a problem for Goldman Sacks.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-16/goldman-sachs-profit-beats-estimates-on-rise-in-trading-revenue
the biggest problem is that despite advances in technology, people aren't really getting 'smarter'
it doesnt help our education k-12 system is desgigned to make people useless proles
The K-12 cartel operates to enrich its own members, as do all cartels. Health care, pensions and vacation homes in Vallarta for the chronically unemployable.
I repost from another thread this very morning, seems tylers read and learn like good robots LOL:the elites know, we are advancing into the "Age of the ROBOT" where most work now done by humans will be done by robots..the society where most humans have no purpose in work life is what is facing us.
the elites want to own the robots (production) but have no good plan for the unemployed..hand outs seems the best they can come up with. and endless debt to pay the welfare class distracted by sports and hollywood type products-virtual life will become life for many internet games and facebook.
service jobs like lawyers and judges and finance & insurance & entertainment & of course education may last longer some jobs in medicine and research..and robotics..jobs few will attain.
If we remove the stone age mind, we would see that unlike a buffett or munger (add elite name here soros?)
wealth no longer serves much purpose when robots produce all the goods we could ever use, the need to hoard and store for a rainy day can disappear based on the ablity to find the power to run the machines.
populations will collapse as those humans who find out they are obsolete will chose to not reproduce..what comes next? will be written by those who find purpose and a reason to live as humans in paradise of no needs or wants.
"populations will collapse as those humans who find out they are obsolete will chose to not reproduce..what comes next? will be written by those who find purpose and a reason to live as humans in paradise of no needs or wants."
Feudalism 2.0.1.x
Or in the books of James Kunstler...."A World Made By Hand"
http://kunstler.com/
Today's experiential skill: zzzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiipppppppppppp.
A,I. Jesus in a box will set the humans free.
FMR!!!!!!
1. Create Autism with EMF
2. do a search on "corporations seeking autistic workers".
3. https://youtu.be/Qf6jhFothAo
4. Doin God's work. MSFT included...isn't that special? Charitable & all.
"[...] precisely what enables us to create more value with our labor."
CHS rejects your (neo-)Keynesian cargo cult economics ... and then substitutes his own.
Charles doesn't comprehend that the only thing that's changed in the world of labor is how much non-human-mechanical energy is used and what it's used by. Of course the real issue is that he's bought into the Enlightenment's fairytale, Goldilocks conception of what "value" is. Tell us Charles, if humans are what create all the added value, and humans haven't undergone any, let alone any incredible and drastic physiological changes in 100,000 years, what exactly has changed that allows a single modern worker to earn more, PPP adjusted, in one year than his/her great-great-great-grandfather earned in a lifetime?
Do you really expect your readers to believe that compulsory public education and the widespread semi-literacy it creates, neither of which are nor ever really have been required for executing the tasks of blue-collar labor, made all the difference???
It's called degreeflation.
Just like monetary inflation, the more there are the less their worth which the colleges then pump out even more but not only are they causing degreeflation, worse, the quality of these degrees become less and less due to the rush them out the door mantra to make room for moar.
Like the High School Diploma the college degree will become useless.... especially in a country which produces very little.
I'm an engineer... sort of. That's not my official job title though. I have no official title. On daily basis I get to maintain company servers and networks, write pipeline and database software, maintain websites, FTP and software license servers, data backups, UPS backups. I wire high voltage electrical lines, lay floor panels, paint walls and put together drop ceilings. I communicate with service providers and oversee all subcontractor work. I keep an eye on accounting records and supply data needed for occasional IRS audits. When people get hired, I set them up, and when they're fired I clean up the mess and transfer responsibilities. I create custom software, design and build custom hardware - wireless devices, performance monitors, security systems and data broadcast hubs. In addition, I clean up garbage, refill the coffee machine and take care of recycling. In addition, I make 3D models, do 2D compositing, edit video material, maintain data archives. I write engines for rigid body and fluid dynamics, crowd simulation and many other specialized tasks. Practically anything that I'm expected to do I do. If I don't know how to do something, I google it and practice at home until I can apply the skills professionally. I never risk company data or equipment. I spend my own money gathering and maintaining my own gear.
That and many more things on a 65k salary with 15+ years of work experience in engineering and mathematics. That's the new normal (for me at least). All I can say is that I'm happy to be working. I'm in the private sector, so public sector rules don't apply.
If you do less and make more? Well, I'm happy for you.
julia you are grossly under paid..just like soros,buffett,munger, dimon, and all the pols- like it.
Underpaid? Maybe. But at least I'm emplyed unlike many of my former colleagues that used to be adequately compensated and are now out of a job. I'm simply trying to stay ahead of the curve.
One thing to remember is that people who want to run the world want to run it in THEIR lifetime. They don't give a fuck if things fall apart after they die, so long as they're in control while they live - so there is no planning for anything beyond about 40 years out, if even that long.
Of course, if they succeed in achieving immortality, well then they can plan how to run the world for much longer...
When will the robots have to start paying income, social security, and medicaid taxes?