this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2023
223 points (96.7% liked)

Technology

59148 readers
2703 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 86 points 1 year ago (15 children)

Fears? I'm excited that these jobs where people are treated like machines until they quit for sanity's sake are getting automated.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Exactly! It seems the other people in comments here don't understand that this is just a net positive for workers!

[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You already have universal basic income where you guys are living ? Failing that it’s solely less low qualification jobs and more concentration of revenues for the few above. I don’t see that as « a net positive » -although semantically, those laid off would not be workers anymore so in that you’re right. Horrifically so.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

UBI is necessary for this to be positive, so that's our problem. Not the machines taking the job.

Don't throw shit at this, throw it at politicians.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

And yet you cheer on the loss of jobs and hand wave away issues as someone else's problem. That makes you part of the problem as the side cheering on the destruction of people's lives. Seriously how do you "workless utopia" fuckwits not see this?

I know how actually: you don't work these jobs and it will make you feel better about your demand for more and excessive consumption because "well at least it didn't hurt a human" but it does and will. You speak from an ivory tower and say it will be good when you hear less screams from below without caring for how the screaming stops.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I actually just want UBI so every single working class can get the basic needs instead of the rich getting richer.

I'm pretty sure I'm in the ground, and not in a tower with this opinion.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Sure but right now that isn't happening and robotics dismantling jobs destroying income is real. We are focusing on idealism and not reality.

Wanting it is fine but advocating that it's the only solution right now is not.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, until it hits them and it will.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

It's a net positive if those people are able to transition into other roles/ jobs.

load more comments (14 replies)
[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (4 children)

They’ve tried in the past and they always perform like shit. I know management salivates at the thought of robots replacing people, but the technology just isn’t there yet. Robots just don’t seem to have very good problem solving skills and can’t deal with the wide range of seemingly inconsequential hiccups that occur throughout the work day that most people solve without much efgort. They do a few simple things well, but then break down at the slightest deviation from that. Maybe one day they’ll marry robots and AI together and they’ll be able to do complicated tasks, but for now they’re just not there yet.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

People hear the word “robot” and assume that there’s some level of intelligence involved. Often, that isn’t the case. A robot is usually just a sophisticated machine following a painfully specific set of instructions.

If something unusual happens that an engineer hadn’t written a thousand lines of code to deal with, it could shut down the entire line.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I’m dealing with these specific issues right now in a distribution center, and it’s just with shelf moving robots that Amazon has had for 10-15 years already. It’s amazing how dumb they are and how poorly they are programmed to handle exceptions, and they aren’t even doing puts and picks.

Eventually someone will figure out how to make robots that can handle the more complicated tasks that humans currently do. I figured we were still a decade or 2 away from that point, but if anyone can figure it out quicker, it’s Amazon. I kind of hate the possibility that they might have already figured it out, but I’m very skeptical of a simple announcement.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Technology has been there for a while now. Places like Ocado are 100% robotised.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I agree and will add that management always seems to forget that machines have downtime too. Robots replacing humans is a lovely dream these companies have where they conveniently ignore the needs and demands of using said robotics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Perhaps, but it will be a net win for Amazon even if they only automate a part of the warehouse.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Weren't these jobs like, feared already cause they treat you less like a machine, they treated you like shit to the point youd have a good chance that you have to step over a dead body eventually?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Their turnover rate is ridiculously high and supply chains as an industry have been steadily moving towards automation. Robots are going to keep replacing unloaders, loaders, and pickers just as AI is going to start replacing buyers and dispatchers in the near future.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I honestly don’t know what to think. Yes, people need jobs, but more importantly, they need GOOD jobs. Amazon treats people terribly and, even at their best, does the bare minimum to comply with the law and keep their warehouses staffed.

Employees are being taken advantage of. Getting people out of there might be a net positive.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago (7 children)

We need protections for those workers (i.e. UBI, et al) BEFORE they lose their jobs to capitalist dreams, preferably funded by the capitalists.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I 100% agree with this, and that's why I can't see robots taking job as bad news.

The problem is with the society. We need to build it better, so these advantages are for us - not for some scummy rich guy.

On another note: nobody should be a billionaire.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, unfortunately currently society exists to serve billionaires, and we don't see that changing much. More automation will just entrench that power further.

We need to eliminate billionaires yesterday, or risk ending up in techno neo-feudalism.

Capitalism is reaching its end road. Things will change, for better or for worse. How it will change will depend on whether politics will support the people, or the rich.. and of we continue on without changing much, it will support the rich.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

This is why any politicians say they are bringing back the manufacturing jobs back to “US” “Japan” “Germany” or whatever are extremely dumb.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (7 children)

If Amazon doesn't need employees then they don't need tax breaks. In fact add a new tax for any business that switches to robot labor. They can pay the missing personal wages in taxes. Texas makes electric car drivers pay more for not using gas, this seems like the same thing.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

If you are worried about your amazon job you need to join a government program that will train you for a better job. Amazon sucks to work for and you deserve better.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why do they need a humanoid robot to move an empty box from one conveyor belt to the other? They could have made a conveyor belt or robot arm instead.

Whatever. I'm glad no human is needed to waste their life doing that shit job.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s not what these robots are doing. They are picking items out of bins, verifying them, and packing them into totes which will be put on a conveyor. A conveyor is good for moving boxes or totes, but that’s about it. It does really poorly with small items, large items, irregular shapes, and especially anything in a bag.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That’s not what these robots are doing. They are picking items out of bins, verifying them, and packing them into totes which will be put on a conveyor. A conveyor is good for moving boxes or totes, but that’s about it. It does really poorly with small items, large items, irregular shapes, and especially anything in a bag.

This guy Material Handlings. Handles Material? Does Material Handling?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’ve heard “material handles” and “handles materials,” but you are correct. I this-guy it hard.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Me too! Or at least I’m in the industry. Software side though.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Similar here. I do computer and industrial engineering for system integrations and process improvement, and I’m currently sending this from a wave picker 30 ft in the air trying to understand what keeps causing this damn jam in our new crossdock conveyor.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That sounds like way more fun than what I do. I just work on our one-stop-shop solutions development/planning/engineering/papers/order entry software. It’s like a glorified, complicated version of The Sims home construction but with conveyors and racking and structural steel and whatnot instead of couches and pianos and windows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oh gotcha. I work with a lot of people at various companies that have a similar role as you. I work for a consultancy that gives me the opportunity to wear a lot of hats. The job is always really challenging, but every project is a new adventure.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You think this is the only job they will ever do? They gotta start somewhere.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›