Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs

Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by atonse on Monday May 13, 2019 @10:31AM (#19899591)

Honestly the best proposal I've seen for slowing down such automation is to add a tax on these machines. That'll make the cost-benefit equation less obvious. These machines won't pay for themselves in a year and then be practically free. They'll continue to cost a lot. This kind of tax would help slow the progress of such automation to a speed where society can better adjust.

And I say this as someone who absolutely loves all this kind of automation.

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by myself248 on Monday May 13, 2019 @11:52AM (#19900508)

So how would you tax my cordless drill? It saves a ton of time versus the old bit-and-brace method. Or does the tax only apply to things that replace new jobs, not old ones?

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by atonse on Monday May 13, 2019 @01:02PM (#19901267)

Did the cordless drill result in tons of jobs vanishing overnight? Or did it slowly happen over many years? Is your cordless drill able to walk over and automatically do the job you would've done, firing you overnight? Since it doesn't do any of those things, seems like it wouldn't necessarily be taxed.

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by ilikehurdles on Monday May 13, 2019 @12:43PM (#19901061)

The best proposal is a more accessible social safety net that includes things like free higher education (or technical training) and healthcare. I don't think automation should be slowed, but the US is not equipped to handle the ensuing job displacement. Chop up the foreign invasion and domestic spying budget and reallocate toward uplifting the average worker.

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by mruts on Monday May 13, 2019 @01:10PM (#19901360)

Maybe we should have done that 2000 years ago. Then we wouldn't have the scourge of electricity and the candle maker's union would still be going strong: providing high paying quality jobs to the honest workers of the world.

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by rytor718 on Monday May 13, 2019 @10:37AM (#19899646)

I was going to (very slightly) disagree, but the idea that society is slower than technology is an angle that needs to be stated out loud a lot more. We can't out pace machines and its a fair reason to tax them for the time being.

That said, I don't necessarily believe "society is slow to catch up" should be a long term problem. It should be something the government mandates for x years -- so that it has a timeline to get its act together and build society towards the future.

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by SamuelAdams on Monday May 13, 2019 @12:40PM (#19901020)

> It should be something the government mandates for x years -- so that it has a timeline to get its act together and build society towards the future.

Be careful what you wish for. Social Security was supposed to be temporary too, but here we are, 50 years later. As Milton Friedman put it:

> Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by atonse on Monday May 13, 2019 @10:58AM (#19899887)

Totally agree, that it would be a temporary measure to add some speed bumps.

I first heard this proposal from Bill Gates. Suffice to say he's got a unique view and has probably studied this extensively.

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Re:Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs by pennaMan on Monday May 13, 2019 @06:50PM (#19904821)

Won't they just mass up in the inevitable tax havens?

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