The Robots Don't Need It

In a society where automation or robotics has greatly reduced the need for workers in traditional industries, who should benefit?

To a certain extent everyone does via lower prices, but as is demonstrated by the growing wealth inequality of this country, predominantly the owners do.

If you compare images of an auto manufacturing plant from the 1950s to today, what is most noticeable is that the long lines of people assembling cars are replaced by robots who do the same work.

This was in fact the vision expressed by many futurists, a world in which the backbreaking drudge work was done by robots allowing humans to be more creative.

Of course what was never explained in those visions was how those people would support themselves?

It was always a wide disparity between the worker and the executives and certainly we saw tycoons like Rockefeller and others in the past.  It just used to be that those people needed the workers to run their factories and enterprises so while they paid as little as possible, they created jobs.

Nowadays, in many cases they are simply not creating many jobs.

This has driven many people into dependency on Government or low paying jobs in the Gig economy.

Some propose sharing these gains by providing everybody a piece of the gains.

Not sure the country is ready for that, but it does seem that we could at least level the playing field by provided health, education, and senior security to all.

The robots don't need it.