With Self-Driving Cars Coming, What Happens To Millions Of Jobs In The ‘Crash’ Economy?

Comments

• Ted

  July 2015

  @Dex I believe the subject matter is better suited to a Off-Topic Discussion, wouldn't you agree ?
  Regards,
  Ted
• clacy

  July 2015

  It seems like the good far outweighs the bad with AV technology. One thing is for sure, you cannot stop technological progress.
  
  If you're in a vocation that can be done more efficiently, you have to consider what you will do when technology changes your trade.
  
  In an ever evolving world where less and less low skill work is available, there will be a certain segment of the population that truly cannot fend for themselves financially.
  
  I see more involvement from the government in welfare and benefit programs. Wages will probably continue to stagnate has they have done for the last several years. The permanent dependency class will continue to grow.
  
  Changes are usually gradual, but citizens will be forced to grapple with the problems that low skilled workers will face in the future.
• Dex

  July 2015

  Ted said:

  @Dex I believe the subject matter is better suited to a Off-Topic Discussion, wouldn't you agree ?
  Regards,
  Ted

  OK - I thought it was tangentially related to investments.
  
• Dex

  July 2015 edited July 2015

  clacy said:

  It seems like the good far outweighs the bad with AV technology. One thing is for sure, you cannot stop technological progress.
  
  

  We think alike.
  
  The article says a fleet of them won't be ready for 20 years.
  
  I wonder if the Luddites will return? That is the only hope I can think of for the unemployed and underemployed - people assigned to a job even if technology does not need a human. I don't see that happening though.
  
  Just think of the changes to come - Amazon delivering food/etc by drone, offshoring of jobs, technology singularity. The question I come back to is: who will have the $ to buy these things (beyond food, clothing, shelter). The only answer I can see is a very few.
  
  
• Old_Joe

  August 2015

  "The question I come back to is: who will have the $ to buy these things (beyond food, clothing, shelter). The only answer I can see is a very few."
  
  @Dex- With you all the way on this one.
• hank

  August 2015 edited August 2015

  Old_Joe said:

  "The question I come back to is: who will have the $ to buy these things (beyond food, clothing, shelter). The only answer I can see is a very few."
  
  OJ - If your rhetorical question has to do with the cost of the technology employed ..... relax!
  
  Who will buy these things? That's what they said when electronic calculators first hit the store shelves in the early 70's. Purchased a basic plug-in model for $200 at Montgomery Ward around 1972. (Battery-operated were more expensive). A real time saver at work, so in my case justified. They now sell these things for a buck in thrift stores. Point is: Technology invariably gets cheaper.
  
  We've had self-driving cars to some extent for many years. Set your cruise on 60 and fall asleep and it will drive you right into a tree. Automatic parallel parking's been around half-dozen years or so. (Takes all the fun out of backing into a tight parking space). Automatic braking is now on some cars to avoid front end collisions or backing over a child or pet.
  
  Currently, Ford, Audi, BMW and Tesla (among others) offer, or are about to offer, vehicles which self-steer under limited conditions - mainly highway driving.
  
  Can't answer Dex's question. Things will evolve, change and evolve again as they always do. Yes - a legal quagmire which the courts will need to address (primarily in assessing responsibility for accidents and injuries). But I believe that safety will be enhanced by these innovations. Maybe a reason Buffett likes insurance?
  
  
  
  
• Dex

  August 2015

  hank said:

  Maybe a reason Buffett likes insurance?
  

  Good point. There is a lag from the decline in ins. rates and decline in claims that would be profitable.
  
  
• Old_Joe

  August 2015

  "The question I come back to is: who will have the $ to buy these things (beyond food, clothing, shelter). The only answer I can see is a very few."
  
  @Hank- actually, that's Dex's question, and I interpreted it as suggesting that after technology displaces ever-increasing numbers of workers from any employment that can be automated there won't be a whole lot of people left who will have any significant disposable income. I share that perspective.
  
• hank

  August 2015 edited August 2015

  @OJ - Sorry. I didn't intend to credit you with Dex's words or thoughts. (And should have observed the quotation marks)
  
  But, it's a very good rhetorical question nonetheless. Agree we're heading in the wrong direction. 50 years ago, folks foresaw automation eventually making life easier for the working stiff. Shorter hours. Better pay and benefits. Earlier and more prosperous retirement.
  
  But that hasn't happened to any great extent. Yes, those fortunate enough to have a job can now afford indoor plumbing and perhaps a hd TV. But their quality of life is nowhere near what one might have envisioned based on the tremendous technological advances of the past half century.
  ---
  
  BTW: 60 Minutes ran an updated segment yesterday on cutting edge space weaponry in development and use, including the AF space plane and ground-based laser in New Mexico. BIG money there. Another instance of where all this great technology is doing little to lift the living standards of the working class.
  
  
• Dex

  August 2015

  hank said:

  @OJ
  
  But, it's a very good rhetorical question nonetheless. Agree we're heading in the wrong direction. 50 years ago, folks foresaw automation making life easier for the working stiff. Shorter hours. Better pay and benefits. Earlier and more prosperous retirement.
  
  But that hasn't happened to any great extent. Yes, those fortunate enough to have a job can afford indoor plumbing and perhaps a hd TV now. But their quality of life is nowhere near what one might have envisioned based on the tremendous technological advance
  
  
  

  I used to read a lot of science fiction and the future was usually marvel of technology.
  I wish someone would write a book describing a world with great technology but show how those that can not afford it live. The closest to it was Soylent Green.