technology « Limits to Growth

Fed-Ex Introduces Delivery Robot

We’ve seen small autonomous shipping vehicles for a couple years now, like the Starship company’s model which has been tested in cities like Austin and Washington DC.

So the new model from Fed-Ex is interesting in that it represents a tech advance by surmounting one modest step in the video below, but nothing more challenging than […]

Tucker Carlson Interviews Andrew Yang, Technology and Automation Critic

Andrew Yang is a technology expert who is running for president in 2020 on what might be called a Tech-Caution platform. Unlike the clueless characters currently running our national government, Yang understands the danger of automation and artificial intelligence — that when smart machines take over major employment categories in America, the economy will fail […]

Strawberry Picker Could Replace Human Workers Next Year

Monday’s Washington Post noted the continuing improvement of agricultural automation with a front page story about a machine that can handle the requirements of delicate strawberry picking:

It’s impossible to see what’s going on inside the big machine since the working parts aren’t visible, so here’s an explanatory video from the company Harvest CROO Robotics from […]

Silicon Valley Paper Provides Two Views of the Automated Future

Sunday’s San Jose Mercury-News had a big spread on automation with photos and two articles. One is of the Don’t-Worry style — Robot-made coffee and burgers in SF? How automation is affecting jobs — produced by the SJM and appropriate to the tech-friendly view of the Silicon Valley town.

Below, a front page photo asks the […]

Robot Reporter Threatens Scribbler Jobs

It’s hard to feel sorry for journalists losing their employment because of automation since so many of them have never been sympathetic to the job loss of American workers caused by inexpensive immigrants. But now smart machines are moving into news offices and are already cranking out articles that are heavy on numbers, like finance […]

Pain from Automation Job Loss Will Hit the Third World Harder

In the roboticized, automated and artificially intelligent future that the world faces, Third World nations will have even fewer possibilities for coping than more advanced countries. Africa, for example, now offers cheap labor for manufacturing, and the Economist called the continent An awakening giant in 2014.

However, Africa’s industrial boomlet may be cut short by cheaper […]

Robots Are Ready for Next Financial Slump

It’s not news that when an economic downturn hits, business looks to cut numbers of expensive employees, but these days, the entrance of smart machines into the workplace makes the layoffs even easier for executives. It has happened before and it will happen again.

In fact, a 2013 investigation by the Associated Press found that good […]

America Is Now Fighting Back against Chinese Theft of Intellectual Property

Red China has been stealing America’s technology and intellectual property for years. We know that in part because a few reporters, like Lou Dobbs who warned this country about the Chinese threat for more than a decade:

From CNN, June 24, 2008:

LOU DOBBS: Well, as we’ve reported here, literally for years, there are more than 3,500 […]

Automation May Eliminate 30 to 40 Million American Jobs

It’s a rare thing for the massive job loss associated with future automation to be discussed on television, but Wednesday’s coverage on Fox Business followed the Sixty Minutes report last Sunday — a two-fer in one week. But unlike CBS’ Scott Pelley, who seemed afraid to confront the idea that artificial intelligence would displace 40 […]

Amazon’s Holiday Business Shows Increased Automation and Fewer Workers

Jeff Bezo’s incorporation of automation into online shopping has made Amazon the world leader in e-commerce by utilizing the technology of robots. His business acumen has also made him the richest man on earth, worth around $150 billion.

Now the holiday sales statistics are in, and the system is working well: there were more items ordered […]

Ireland: Taoiseach Warns of Automation Threat

It’s unusual to hear a national leader pointing out the approaching danger to workers and the economy posed by smart machines — in fact, I can’t recall another example. Perhaps top politicians of smaller countries feel more free because unusual remarks won’t upset the international order.

If only President Trump would do likewise — he could […]

Robots Get End-of-Year List

Year-end lists can be an interesting review of the blur that modern life has become, and the evolution of technology is extra rapid by its nature.

Wired’s list of robotics shows no interest in associated job loss for human workers, but if you look closely, the improving capabilities of smart machines are a warning of things […]

Fair Use: This site contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues related to culture and mass immigration. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, see: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000107----000-.html. In order to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Limits to Growth