this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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"Amazon and Walmart are excessively watching their warehouse workers. So much so that they’ve entered a dystopic era of extreme surveillance" (www.instagram.com)
submitted 7 months ago by cyu@sh.itjust.works to c/unions@lemmy.ml
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[–] Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works 27 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Clearly all these sorts of companies are only using staff until they are able to replace with robots. Not a bad thing as also, clearly the job sucks but as many others have pointed out, what happens when products you buy are made by robots and distributed by robots with no humans involved. Who will have the income to buy? I am not seeing evidence of UBI coming in a serious way despite a few small successful pilots. Someone in the government better be ready to support these workers are their days are numbered

[–] Sabata11792@kbin.social 10 points 7 months ago

The boulder must arrive at the top of the hill by 4pm or you starve. No exceptions.

[–] novibe@lemmy.ml 6 points 7 months ago

Elysium and countless other sci-fis. Masses living in mad max squalor and a handful of thousands living in sci-fi luxury.

[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Who will have the income to buy?

You've almost figured it out with this question: billionaires will.

  • If prices go too high, most people can't pay, so
  • Prices go down, but
  • Wealth has been massively concentrated amongst a small number of people, and
  • If a pair of socks costs $40,000, one purchase can make up for thousands, therefore
  • Robots which don't need pay or sleep making basic necessities like food and clothing and electricity can replace the workers in those industries, and
  • The economy can continue with many fewer participants.

So where does that leave us? Why, in the ground old chum!

To be clear, I don't think this is going to happen for a while if it does, and it's far from guaranteed. There's a lot of enthusiasm around AI right now, particularly for the "Figure.01" OpenAI demo; we'll have to see if that lives up to the hype.

[–] frauddogg@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 7 months ago

what happens when products you buy are made by robots and distributed by robots with no humans involved. Who will have the income to buy?

And this is why I advocate for strapping up and getting comfortable with the idea of earning your blue laces.