Automation, Our Fate Was Predicted in the Eighties by Robert R. Odle, Ph.D.

Automation, the end of Work, Heaven or Hell we already chose …. Robert R. Odle, Ph.D. an aspiring good citizen of the earth

At the airport restaurant in Philly this morning, I discovered a very slick Ipad ordering system. I had no problem with ordering two eggs over easy and picking bacon as my side order. The card swipe system was behind and off to the side, colored black on a black counter. I might have found it, but the waitress jumped in. I wanted to do it on my own.

I interviewed the waitress. She said a lot of people need help and for now the system slows her down. She said a lot of people double order stuff because they don't know what the meal includes. I didn't know I got potatoes. Fair enough. She said people have problems finding the card swipe. Duh.

There's no way to call somebody on the system to let them know when you want to get your coffee refilled, for example. Minor functionality enhancement required.

As usual the developers need to talk to the waitress to address some issues, but this is the future. Each waitress is now handling 20 stations but help each other out and split tips. I can easily imagine the number of stations going up and the number of waitresses going down as the system improves and customers learn. I have a few ideas on that.

Another example of automation destroying jobs faster than they can be created. This morning I gave money to a guy on the corner. His sign said, I need help. I talked with him. He said he audits hotels in the evening, but people are always around that work cheaper and computers are doing most of the work anyway. He's down to two days a week and can't pay his bills. So during the days, he stands on a busy corner trying to keep his family together.

As automation destroys jobs, what is society's responsibility to these people?  In the eighties  Jeremy Rifkin predicted in The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force. He predicted automation would start destroying jobs faster than they could be created.  He did not see outsourcing coming a big factor as it did, but he nailed the ever accelerating impact of automation on job destruction.  He say two possible outcomes as automation destroyed jobs:

1. We would fight over remaining jobs putting downward pressure on wages and form a subclass of Americans living below the poverty level in ever larger numbers while the output of factories were systematically reduced as the number of customers/workers declined.
2. We shared jobs (and/or distributed the wealth), we had more leisure time and factories stayed near full capacity. This view actually requires compassion and caring for those whose jobs are threatened.

He guessed we would select Option #1 since this is the primitive reaction that requires no thought and no change in quaker-like view of how we see work.  Sad, but he was right.