This is true, Amazon is moving toward more automated shipping. It will lower prices and improve conditions for workers that remain. One evil cured, eh?

http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/19/amazon-acquires-online-fulf...

That could be a negative since you removed a bunch of jobs. Also working in 100 degree warehouse isn't that bad, i spent many summers working on a farm in a lot worse conditions(heat, sun and ankle deep in pig manure). Using the same logic we should stop eating.

I don't see how jobs for the sake of jobs is of real benefit to society. Just as programmers tend to automate away humans with small shells scripts (costs go down, reliability increases), a robot automating away inventory picking is a good thing (lower cost, vastly decreased chance of injuries, possibility of "dark" warehouses, 24-hour operation, etc)

Maybe I'm being very 1% here (despite not being even remotely near that income bracket), but I'd be perfectly happy to see machines replace humans in nearly all unskilled labor situations. If Amazon is ahead of the curve here, good for them - it's one of the reasons I own [a tiny amount of] AMZN stock. Getting people doing something that requires thinking because we've eliminated mindless work is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. That won't require everyone in the world have a four-year formal education; there are plenty of opportunities that don't require years of specialized training where you're not likely to be replaced by a couple of servos or a few lines of bash.