Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Brian Merchant — On the Far Horizon: Fully Automated Luxury Communism Brian Merchant


Thinking ahead.
Bastani and fellow luxury communists believe that this era of rapid change is an opportunity to realise a post-work society, where machines do the heavy lifting not for profit but for the people.
SolidarityEconomy
On the Far Horizon: Fully Automated Luxury Communism
Brian Merchant
SolidarityEconomy.net via The Guardian /UK

5 comments:

mike norman said...

I want to see the owners of the machines agree to that.

Peter Pan said...

Show me a robot that can do frame carpentry and you'll have my devoted attention.

Tom Hickey said...

Modular construction has already been with us for some time. There are two options. Either the modular building can be completed at the factory and delivered by truck and set on a prepared foundation, which will be 3d printed in the future, or for large buildings, the modules can be delivered separately and assembled on site. So far this is done by humans but it only involves aligning the work and bolting it together. Engineers should be able to robotize that in the future, too, if it hasn't already been done.

Robots are actually good at finish work, too. Detail is no problem. Machines have been used for very detailed metal cutting and shaping for a long time, as well as plastic and metal extrusion. Now those machines are being digitized so they can be set up remotely.

Tom Hickey said...

BTW, you can order up your modular house for shipping from China right now.

This is not a shipping container house. It is something far more significant.

Peter Pan said...

Modular construction requires carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and other trades. It's been with us for some time, offers some advantages in quality control, but it isn't a primary method for building construction.
Automation in manufacturing isn't going to replace human mobility and dexterity.

Manufacturing employment in the US:
http://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag31-33.htm

You believe all those jobs are going to vanish anytime soon?

Even monkeys are not threatened by our imagined automated future:
http://www.monkeyhelpers.org