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"They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians." (Photo: Universal Robots)
Are You Ready For Corporate America's Robot Economy?
It’s to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite.
Oct 20, 2017
There's a robot in your future. Not one of those cute little labor-saving automatons - like a "Roomba" vacuum cleaner.
Far from saving you from doing extra labor, this new wave of robots is being brought into your workplace to rescue corporate bosses from paying you to work for them. Oh, you might think, not my workplace, for I'm not a factory worker - I've got a college degree and I work with my brain, so no contraption doing rote mechanical tasks can take my job.
But wait, these are "thinking machines," implanted with complex neural networks and superfast algorithmic computers that operate in sync, functioning much like the cluster of specialized cells in the human brain. These brainy bots have a fast-evolving ability to watch, listen, and learn on their own, even able to produce and teach other robots. Not only are they displacing flesh-and-blood workers on factory assembly lines, but millions of them are now being moved into professional, managerial, creative, and other occupations previously assumed to be the secure domains of higher-educated, higher-paid people... maybe even yours.
To be clear, it's not robots that are taking our jobs, but corporate profiteers. They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians. It's to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite - and they're pushing it hard and fast, hoping We the People don't wake up until it's too late.
Robots are not our enemy - the corporate bosses, bankers, and BSers who own robots are the ones doing this to us, and now is the time for all of us whom they're about to discard to rebel against their socially destructive greed.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
© 2023 Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
There's a robot in your future. Not one of those cute little labor-saving automatons - like a "Roomba" vacuum cleaner.
Far from saving you from doing extra labor, this new wave of robots is being brought into your workplace to rescue corporate bosses from paying you to work for them. Oh, you might think, not my workplace, for I'm not a factory worker - I've got a college degree and I work with my brain, so no contraption doing rote mechanical tasks can take my job.
But wait, these are "thinking machines," implanted with complex neural networks and superfast algorithmic computers that operate in sync, functioning much like the cluster of specialized cells in the human brain. These brainy bots have a fast-evolving ability to watch, listen, and learn on their own, even able to produce and teach other robots. Not only are they displacing flesh-and-blood workers on factory assembly lines, but millions of them are now being moved into professional, managerial, creative, and other occupations previously assumed to be the secure domains of higher-educated, higher-paid people... maybe even yours.
To be clear, it's not robots that are taking our jobs, but corporate profiteers. They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians. It's to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite - and they're pushing it hard and fast, hoping We the People don't wake up until it's too late.
Robots are not our enemy - the corporate bosses, bankers, and BSers who own robots are the ones doing this to us, and now is the time for all of us whom they're about to discard to rebel against their socially destructive greed.
Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the books "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow" (2008) and "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road But Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos: A Work of Political Subversion" (1998). Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
There's a robot in your future. Not one of those cute little labor-saving automatons - like a "Roomba" vacuum cleaner.
Far from saving you from doing extra labor, this new wave of robots is being brought into your workplace to rescue corporate bosses from paying you to work for them. Oh, you might think, not my workplace, for I'm not a factory worker - I've got a college degree and I work with my brain, so no contraption doing rote mechanical tasks can take my job.
But wait, these are "thinking machines," implanted with complex neural networks and superfast algorithmic computers that operate in sync, functioning much like the cluster of specialized cells in the human brain. These brainy bots have a fast-evolving ability to watch, listen, and learn on their own, even able to produce and teach other robots. Not only are they displacing flesh-and-blood workers on factory assembly lines, but millions of them are now being moved into professional, managerial, creative, and other occupations previously assumed to be the secure domains of higher-educated, higher-paid people... maybe even yours.
To be clear, it's not robots that are taking our jobs, but corporate profiteers. They're creating a robot economy in order to displace you and me with inexpensive machines that don't demand higher wages or health care, don't take sick days or vacations, and don't organize unions, file lawsuits, or vote for pro-worker politicians. It's to be a plutocratic utopia designed by and for the corporate elite - and they're pushing it hard and fast, hoping We the People don't wake up until it's too late.
Robots are not our enemy - the corporate bosses, bankers, and BSers who own robots are the ones doing this to us, and now is the time for all of us whom they're about to discard to rebel against their socially destructive greed.
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