Automation is on the rise and so are the threats against human employment – Daytona Beach News-Journal

The Daytona Beach News-Journal

In case anyone hasnt noticed or, more properly, refuses to acknowledge, there is a trend toward unemployment that has been taking place since the Industrial Revolution, driven not by disease but by automation and the ongoing introduction of labor-saving machines.

At first, it was in the productive cycle. Machines can produce goods faster and more efficiently than human employees. What to do? Well, lets create service jobs, like retail sales and banking. That worked, albeit not very lucratively for the employees, until the advent of online purchasing and electronic banking.

So where do these millions of displaced employees go? There are only so many lawns to mow or entertainment vacancies to fill. I know. Well use some of them to deliver all these products theyre no longer needed to produce, or that are being produced abroad for slave wages. That will work until the latest trend kicks in delivery by drone, that is already proving its convenience, effectiveness and profitability. How many people are we going to need to service the drones, which will no doubt soon be able to sort out the deliveries for themselves?

More: Florida Legislature: Senate presses ahead with effort to increase unemployment benefits

There is a pandemic at work here that eclipses any biological threat, and even more intractable. It is the replacement of people by technology. And its not going away. Businesses do not exist to employ people. They exist to make a profit. Employees are a pain. They constantly demand higher pay. They get sick. They take time off. And they cant live on relief forever.

Stephen L. Doll, Ormond Beach

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Automation is on the rise and so are the threats against human employment - Daytona Beach News-Journal