• Steve Jones - SSC Editor (7/28/2015)


    Netflix has some neat robots, though they've put 75 people out of work.

    http://t.co/5uKV6WxTWp

    That URL doesn't seem to work right in my browser; do you have a direct link?

    The following is how I personally feel about job displacement, but also understand I'm a reductionist by nature and I do understand it's a nuanced issue. Broadly speaking, if a job can be replaced by a robot, then the job was probably boring and low paying for quite some time. This is a situation where executives look out across the shop floor and think to themselves: "Do we really need this group of people? I'll bet a robot could do a better job."

    Like the old saying goes: "If you snooze, you lose". In the past, one of my queues for moving on to another job was when I noticed things started to slow down or when I felt my position was becomming too compartmentalized. When my kids are old enough to start their own careers; I'll give them the same advice. Don't ever protest just to keep some crummy job that a robot or migrant worker could do jut as well. Accept it for what it is and move on to something even better. That's how we grow. I'd even say that's the authentically "American" way of looking at it.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho